Conclave Movie Review

Disclaimer: I will come out and say that I have some very strong opinions in regards to religious institutions, and I am going to be doing my best to try and give my review as objectively as I can for the movie and JUST the movie. So if I criticise anything about the portrayals of religion or religious figures, it is not meant to offend readers.

Now, onto the review:

The movie Conclave is quite an interesting one.

A movie that is all about the pope passing away and the process to find the next pope. All sorts of intrigue and shifting allegiances, acting almost like a political campaign with only a select group being able to choose who they best wish can lead the Catholic Church into the future while also honouring past and tradition.

It is quite a slow paced film, with a majority of the film just about the election and the ever changing landscape. Countless scandals and dark secrets of the past being brought to the present, which is something that is played like it is unusual or something new. It really is a movie that consists of absolutely nothing but gossip and sharing rumors and discovering skeletons in people's closets. It becomes a bit of a repetitive movie at points, with the same things happening to different characters that make them have to pull out of the running to become the next pope.

Story wise, the movie is intriguing enough. But the acting performances in this movie is where this movie absolutely shines. Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow, Isabella Rossellini, and Carlos Diehz are all my top actors in this movie, but really anybody and everybody had great performances in this movie. There were no bad performances from anybody really. Just an overall incredible showing from everyone involved.

Aside from the acting, the cinematography in this movie is absolutely top notch. So incredible with some shots that feel like they could come from massive budge, epic fantasy or science fiction films. There were genuinely moments that reminded me of the recent Dune movies with shot composition and framing.

An incredibly beautiful film to watch with architecture that really is better than any set you could imagine. Such a great work of visual art.

I am a massive fan of film scores, and this one was incredibly unique and interesting to listen to. One that I paid attention to in a incredibly fascinated and intellectual way.

German composer Volker Bertelmann composed the score to Conclave, his fifth collaboration with Berger. In an interview with IndieWire, Bertelmann discussed developing a sound that was neither "too ecclesiastical [nor] classical", leading to experimentation with lesser-known instruments. As a result, much of the score makes use of the Cristal Baschet, a crystallophone played using wet hands. A similar approach was used for Bertelmann's score for Berger's All Quiet on the Western Front (2022), where a harmonium was used.

This really made it something so incredibly special and unique, which was something that I absolutely fell in love with and wish more movies would try to do. Using more unique and special instruments.

This movie really is something I thoroughly enjoyed. The story was perhaps the weak point, but it was not exactly helped from a rather slow and repetitive pace and editing. I would recommend this movie if you are interested in watching for great acting and things that are more slow paced and dramatic. A masterclass of true oscar bate or bafta bate film making.

Overall Rating: 8/10