Pro-Clave

Our family closed a three movie Thanksgiving weekend (the second movie being Wicked, which my wife loved and the boys tolerated) with Conclave, the story of a papal election focusing primarily on the dean of the College of Cardinals, Thomas Lawrence, played by Ralph Fiennes. He's more or less in charge of the proceedings, and has to promote the candidacy of his friend and American cardinal Aldo Bellini (Stanley Tucci) against those who want the church to return to a more conservative and traditional orientation, whose leading candidate is Venetian cardinal Goffredo Todesco (Sergio Castellitto).  All without overt politicking, which is expressly forbidden.

On top of that, Lawrence has to manage various intrigues involving other cardinals, such as a Nigerian cardinal (Lucian Msamati) with a mysterious relationship to a nun, a Canadian cardinal (John Lithgow) who is angling to get himself elected, and a mysterious Mexican cardinal assigned secretly to Kabul (Carlos Diehz) who arrives just before the conclave starts. He's assisted in handling these issues by the nun in charge of the domestic arrangements, played by Isabella Rossellini, whose appearance brings to mind the brief, show stopping role Judi Dench played in Shakespeare in Love.

The movie is directed by Edward Berger (All Quiet on the Western Front), and he does a great job of getting as much emotional mileage possible out of what could be a fairly dull subject, palace intrigue notwithstanding. It's also beautifully shot, I expect a nod for cinematography once the Oscar nominations come out.

All of which complements the acting, which is at a very high level. Fiennes stands out as the conflicted cardinal, and has picked up a few award nominations so far. Rossellini's role may be too slight to grab an Oscar nod, though she's been nominated elsewhere. I was also impressed with John Lithgow, who showed just the right balance of ambition and (false?) piety, while playing down his usual instinct to make a meal of his role.

There is a surprise at the ending, which is the same as it was in Robert Harris's book (which I also recommend). I think it was done reasonably well, enough so that it elicited an audible gasp from my wife.

I do recommend seeing this, especially if you're someone who like to see all of the Oscar nominated movies. I expect this will be among the 10 Best Picture nods, though I'd be surprised if it won.

We saw this at a local independent theater, so only four previews:

Pan's Labyrinth, which was being shown as part of a late-night screening series

A Complete Unknown, as mentioned previously

Nosferatu, the Robert Eggers version of the classic vampire story. My wife was strangely interested in seeing it (she's not normally a horror person). Can't say it did much for me, but I'm also not much of a horror person.

Mission Impossible - The Final Reckoning, which I am unlikely to see since I don't think I've seen any of these movies since the second one.