Conclave 2024 iBomma: Box Office Collection, Release Date, Review
What does it take to be a good Pope? What kind of person should hold the power of the Church? Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) is appointed to lead the conclave following the unexpected death of the Supreme Pontiff, making these questions the center of the debate that, from then on, will mark all the conversations, silences, and disputes of the Vatican. And with them, an entire arsenal of power struggles that will lead the most powerful leaders of the institution to plot who deserves to be the protagonist of the new white smoke.
The process is not easy, as the election will also involve dealing with the misery, scandals and corruption that also reign in the corridors of the Holy See.
“We’ve had worse” is the argument that one of the bishops puts forward when analysing the candidates one by one, excusing their past mistakes. These alliances are at the heart of Conclave, the new feature film by Edward Berger who, with his previous film, the war film All Quiet on the Western Front, won four Oscars in 2023, including Best International Film and Best Cinematography for James Friend. The German filmmaker returns with a film called to once again occupy its own place in the awards season, starting with the San Sebastian Film Festival, where it competes in its official section.
The film is intelligent, very entertaining and biting; and it is guided by several very unexpected and effective twists, which manage to increasingly twist a story that is apparently timeless on screen, but that is overflowing with current events in all its aspects. Not only because of the way in which it uncovers the miseries of the Church, but because of how it delves into its intrigues as if it were a Game of Thrones set in the Vatican. The desire to have control is something that escapes religion and extends to all social strata, whether it is the organization within families, business leaders or governments.
Fiennes imprints on the face of the cardinal in charge of the vote the doubts, the extreme complexity that the procedure implies and the enormous responsibility that the mission that has been granted to him entails. He assumes it after having experienced his own crisis of faith and with the great difficulty of knowing that the ability to transmit the teachings of the Bible is not the quality that he will have to worry most about finding in the candidates. The candidates are full of secrets that could shake the foundations of the Church, including sexual scandals.
“I don’t want to be presumptuous and think that I can dictate how society should be and how it should be perceived,” Edward Berger admitted at the press conference held within the framework of the festival, “what is interesting is when the doors close and personalities are revealed, you see how power ends up exercising a kind of charm over people.” “It is very difficult to resist. Everyone is susceptible to falling into the web of these power games,” he said. Despite how today “extremists tear their clothes off with fights and struggles,” the filmmaker was “positive” about the evolution of his main character: “Maybe he is not the most progressive cardinal, but he does realize that the future is going to be different.”
Raising blisters in the Vatican
Berger’s feature film is based on the novel of the same name by Robert Harris and, although it uses the Church to talk about all the power struggles, the focus is directly on the Church. “If I were the Vatican, I wouldn’t react. I would be above that, it’s a film and the Vatican is something else. I’m not expecting anything,” she explained about the possible concern about the reaction her work could generate in the institution, “all the cardinals I know have said they are going to go see it, but that’s all. They will discuss it behind closed doors, I don’t expect a public reaction.”
If there was a reaction, he defended that “the truth is that this film is not about religion, but about power games behind closed doors. Beyond the things we might see in the newspapers, this is something that could happen at a political level or in a company.” Berger has opted for the thriller as a genre to tell this story, taking as a reference those of director Alan J. Pakula, author of films such as All the President's Men (1976) and Sophie's Choice (1982).
“I marvel at his precision. The traditional way of shooting is give and take, but he doesn’t do that. He wanted to be very precise in the editing and only cut when it changed the dynamics of the scenes. When someone else had to say an important line, as long as it allowed the story to move forward,” he described about the work in the editing room.
Berger embarked on an exploration of the Vatican's inner workings after making a purely war film. “A film has to come from within. If you've already explored something within yourself, you end up getting tired. Just like if you spend four days talking about the same thing. It's the same with films,” he said, “you end up wanting to do the opposite, find a new topic to talk about.”
Although he said that All Quiet on the Western Front and Conclave are very different, he did detect that both have “an internal battle”: “Faith, doubt, that internal struggle that we all have.” “That’s what happens to Ralph Fiennes’ character, in the end he ends up breaking free. It opens a window to fresh air and what the future can bring. It’s a kind of journey of liberation and goes beyond death and destruction,” he concluded.
The director celebrated being able to present his film at the San Sebastian Film Festival – it will be released in cinemas on 20 December – and reflected on the viewing of films. “We have the responsibility of making films that are interesting enough and box office hits so that people say they have never seen anything like this. That is what will attract people to the theatres, that they are different, that they are an event.”
Conclave: Release Date, Trailer, Songs, Cast
- Release Date25 October 2024
- LanguageEnglish
- GenreThriller
- Cast
- Director
- Writer
- Cinematography
- MusicVolker Bertelmann
- Producer
- Production
