Film Review: Conclave

Welcome back to the blog readers. We are thick in the middle of Oscar season, in which all of the big contenders release and attempt to make their mark with audiences, critics, and voters. One film I personally have had my eye on was this film, in which I have heard rumblings about it being a real contender come Oscar time. That excited me, and the trailers won me over, so what would this film do to me? Stick around to find out.

Conclave was directed by Edward Berger from a screenplay by Peter Straughan based on the novel of the same name by Robert Harris. The film stars Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow, Sergio Castellitto, and Isabella Rossellini. In the film, Cardinal Thomas Lawrence is put in charge of the papal conclave that will elect the next pope. but learns secrets and scandals about each candidate that will leave him questioning everything he has known.

Like I said in a previous post, I am making it my mission to see all of the films nominated for Best Picture, and I have been of the belief that this will be one of the ten nominations named on January 17th. It did wind up taking a few extra days to see this film due to personal reasons, but I finally got around to it. And after seeing the film, I am happy to report that I still believe this film will be one of the ten nominees. This film is absolutely breathtaking and features relevant themes along with award-worthy performances from Ralph Fiennes and Stanley Tucci.

I may or may not have mentioned this previously, but I heard John Campea mention that he believes Ralph Fiennes is the best actor working today without an Oscar, and I am inclined to agree with him on this. This film, however, puts just how good this man is into the limelight and really begs the question: is this finally his year? Ralph Fiennes is breathtakingly phenomenal in this film as he is our eyes and ears into this fictional but very real world. I found myself absolutely magnetized whenever he was on screen doing his thing, and this powerful performance is among one of the best of his career. I truly believe that Fiennes has a real shot at winning his first Oscar this year.

Speaking of Oscar-worthy performances, you have to analyze your soul a little bit and ask yourself where a fantastic Stanley Tucci performance has been all your life. We all know Stanley Tucci one way or another. My first exposure to him was in Captain America: The First Avenger (2011). He has not really been able to flex his acting chops like this since his previous Oscar nomination for The Lovely Bones (2009), but damn was he good in this film. I personally think he was better than Fiennes was in this film. Tucci's character is one that is morally good, but emotionally complex, which makes Aldo Bellini one of the most real characters put to screen this year.

Going into this film, I kind of had a fear that this would be a religious film in the sense that they would try to push a religious message on the viewer, and that kind of is not the case with this film. Obviously this film is going to involve religion because the characters are all high-ranking Christian figures, and I kind of expected a brush with it. But the major theme I noticed with this film was ambition. Each character had their own ambitions and their own agendas, which kind of lands this in the realm of a suspense thriller kind of film.

To conclude my thoughts, Conclave is a thrilling and suspenseful analysis of how the best of us may have the worst of intentions. Thank you all for reading, and I will see you for the next post.