Film Review: Conclave

Someone once quoted to me the old adage, “The closer you are to the Church, the further you are from God.”  In other words, those who get so caught up in the trappings of the mechanisms of the institution can find their view of the Eternal obscured.  Indeed there are many whose faith has faltered in the face of scandalous corruption within the Church or who have been corrupted themselves by pride as they are sucked into the roleplay of power struggles and political ideologies that usually follow the personalities of individuals.  Conclave is a clever exposé of this rendered through the stunning performances of a stellar cast, cleverly directed cinematography and a tight (if at times a little askew) script.

Hollywood tends to have a love-hate relationship with Catholicism.  It loves the visual currency of the Catholic Church better than any other religion because it is tangible, tactile and visceral; just like the medium of film.  Hence, priests and nuns are frequently employed as a visual device, especially in the horror genre; the confessional has been a constant in thrillers; and church buildings are a go-to for many a showdown between good and evil.  However, it doesn’t always get the facts straight and, as Catholics we can sometimes be left feeling a little misrepresented.  That said, I think we have to be careful with this: there are too many knee-jerk reactions to films that employ Catholic imagery, characters or ideas and we can give rise to hyperbole in criticising them.

The truth is that movies like Conclave cannot exist without actually referring back to the thing itself; that is, the Church.  The promotional blurb for the film is misleading.  The fictional story takes place following the death of the Pope, and follows the process of electing his successor.  This process is known as a “conclave” (literally meaning “with key”, or “locked in”) because the Cardinal electors do this in secret away from the influence of the world and the press, locked in Vatican.  However, the blurb says that Cardinal Lawrence (mightily played by Ralph Fiennes) “uncovers a trail of deep secrets…that could shake the foundations of the Church”.  Well, the last time I checked, the foundations of the Catholic Church are actually the teachings of Jesus Christ and his Resurrection from the dead.  The revelations uncovered (without producing a spoiler!) do nothing to undermine those foundations.

Indeed, the film deals quite sensitively with the humanity of the cardinals in their various foibles and frailties.  We see them crushed under pressure, weighed down by their sins, angry and faltering in their faith, but there is nothing that casts doubt on the faith of the Church in Jesus Christ.  For me, however, the biggest mistake made by the film is that it misrepresents the words of Christ on the cross.  In a heartfelt homily at the beginning of the Conclave, in which Cardinal Lawrence prays that God send “a pope who doubts, who sins and who asks for forgiveness and carries on”, he claims that even Christ himself was not certain at the end and cried out from the cross “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me.”  The truth is that Jesus was reciting the words of a Psalm, and these words are said as part of the Jewish Passover that he is completing with his death on the cross.  Far from being a questioning of God in his hour of pain, this is a prayer said by a pious Jew who recognises that the rest of this text accurately describes his suffering: “They have pierced my hands and my feet; I can count all my bones.”

In conclusion, Hollywood doesn’t really get it right with this film but is very well made.  The acting is superb with the likes of Stanley Tucci and John Lithgow in major roles.  It is underpinned by musical score that is so melodramatically heightened that one could easily transpose it to a horror film.  The cinematography achieves the sense of claustrophobia, as conversations happen in the shadows amidst a palette of black and white and red.  The scene in which the cardinals enter the Vatican under umbrellas draws a parallel with the late Pope’s pet turtles that roam around the Papal Gardens inside their shells and sometimes get lost inside the Vatican, leading to them being crushed (a metaphor, if ever there was one!).  For inside, there is a polemic of liberalism and traditionalism played out with some very unsubtle characterisation that is, in my opinion, caricatured – with the traditional cardinal serving as the main “baddie” and the Curia as a kind of unseen “mafia” within the Vatican.  In true Hollywood style, tolerance saves the day and any firm adherence to a religious faith, that leaves no room for doubt, is dangerous.  That said, it raises several issues relevant to the challenging times in which we are living; issues that will befall the next Pope.

My advice, see it for yourself.  If you are a practising Catholic and your faith is in the Lord and the sacraments of his Church, then you will be left thinking but it won’t make any difference to your faith.  In fact, the film made me want to pray for the Church and her priests, and get to confession because we are all in need of God’s mercy.

Review by

Stephen Callaghan