Conclave: A game of chess
MexicoConclave: A game of chess
In Robert Harris' novel of the same name, Conclave depicts on screen one of the most delicate and important rituals of the Catholic Church: the election of the Pope. The film begins with the news of the unexpected death of the Supreme Pontiff. Cardinal Lawrence, an Englishman and dean of the College of Cardinals, arrives to take charge of the preparations for the election of a new leader of the Church. Little by little, the cardinals from all over the world arrive, a little over a hundred of them. In one of the first meetings, Cardinal Bellini from the United States appears, playing a game of chess, "which our dear Pope liked so much." The entire film will then develop like a game of chess: a very well thought-out and strategic calculation of moving pieces to advance on the board and win over the others.
As in every ecclesiastical conclave, there are always cardinals who are favourites for their careers and their thinking. In this cinematic fiction there are the liberal American Bellini; the shrewd Tremblay, from Canada; the very traditionalist Italian Tedesco; the cautious African Adeyemi, each with his own personal aspirations. Cardinal Lawrence excludes himself from the race and bets on Bellini and on following the progressive line of the deceased Pope. But Lawrence bears the enormous responsibility of taking care of the election according to God, when his own life of faith is shaken by a crisis. In his speech to those summoned he emphasises that faith is the capacity to renounce one's certainties and open oneself to God and to others who are so different. The protagonists will experience this tension of renunciation and acceptance in the process of their deliberations.
The film's narrative follows the path of the so-called thriller genre: suspense, unexpected twists, emotional tension, intrigue, uncertainty about the ending; the direction of the German Edward Berger achieves this very satisfactorily and makes a film of men in cassocks and locked in the same place captivate us from beginning to end. These cardinals are not only representatives of the Church, but human beings, mortals, sinners, with their own choices and ambitions, secrets and temptations, like everyone else. Each one is calculating the step to take on the chessboard, and how to take advantage of the opponent's weaknesses and beat him, even though they are there to see before God who will be chosen as pontiff of the Church.
The script bears some resemblance to the royal conclave of 2013 that elected Argentine Cardinal Bergoglio. Benedict XVI resigned from office in the midst of a very delicate crisis in the Church and the papal curia: bankruptcy and corruption at the Vatican Bank, power struggles in the curia since John Paul II's illness, an accumulation of hushed-up sexual abuses, the leak of confidential documents by the pope's butler. With Benedict's resignation and the results of the investigation he had requested, the cardinals already assembled had a week of information on the situation of the Church before closing themselves off to the election assembly.
The film will touch on such points, very well dosed in the development of the script and each character, and with magnificent performances. But it is the staging that makes the film shine, with the coldness of the marble rooms, the solitude of the corridors, the shrewd glances of each elector, the silence of the nuns on duty, the conspiracies between some cardinals, the careful ritual of each vote, the color of each detail, the painting of the final judgment of the Sistine Chapel as a witness, and the extraordinary performance of Ralph Fiennes full of nuances in which doubts, anguish, firmness, responsibility overlap. Conclave is ahead in nominations and awards this season as we enter 2025.
There is no need to reveal too many details and secrets that will appear, but to let ourselves be carried along by the story. We will be able to experience what is already revealed in the Gospels (cf. Matthew 4:1-11) in the temptations of Jesus, which are the temptations of every man and every Christian: greed and attachment to riches (material and spiritual), a vain desire for recognition, aspiration to power over others. The development of the characters in the film perfectly represents this.
At the recent synodal assembly, which concluded at the end of October 2024, Pope Francis reaffirmed that the Church is made up of a diversity of voices, charisms, and cultures, but everything must come together in a unity and harmony that only the Holy Spirit can achieve. Without him, everything becomes mundane, even the best desires; that is how it is here. The fictional story of Conclave aims to open up to another horizon that goes beyond our own interests and temptations, and that bears witness to life according to the Gospel of Jesus.
Three symbols of this appear at the end of the film: the new pope will take the name of Innocent: he who does not follow evil, a turtle moves with difficulty on the marble floor and Lawrence takes it to a pool, the windows and doors open and some young nuns come out joyfully. The Church advances slowly, but we must go where life springs forth; leave our own confines and enter that life as it re-emerges and recreates itself. There is hope if we do not give in to the evil and corruption that always threaten us.