An excellent thriller (without any violence) or soapy drama (without any sex) and that most rare of theatrical experiences: a movie for grown-ups. I love when a movie has good word-of-mouth. I didn't read a good review of Conclave, but I read a positive tweet from a cranky critic I respect. Then my mother emailed everyone she knows about seeing it in a sold-out house and loving it. This is a good sign. I still remember her calling me on the way home from seeing
Galaxy Quest to rave about it :-) Emily and I got a sitter and saw it with three elderly couples at the Triplex Sunday night and we loved it from jump street. Ralph Fiennes, looking haggard and frail, even for a cardinal who's taken a vow of poverty, plays Cardinal Lawrence, a close confidante to the now-deceased pope. He's responsible for running the College of Cardinals that elects the next pope, sequestered behind the massive bolted doors of the Sistine Chapel. The ambition, jockeying and politicking to become the most famous and (arguably) most powerful man in the world is intense and opaque. Fiennes plays Lawrence as part clever, part overwhelmed, but also morally straight yet hopelessly naïve. He never wanted to be pope, yet half his confidantes see that as his strategy to get elected. With the papacy at stake, can anyone be trusted? Is anyone acting (and voting) in good faith? (pun intended).
Recommended.
