Conclave is a chamber drama, but one doesn't begin to realise that the entire story is staged inside a closed space — the confines of the Apostolic Palace, where the papal conclave is held to elect the next pope by the College of Cardinals after the death of the previous one — until much later. This has to do with the film's ability to keep us engrossed with the various characters with different backgrounds and unique personalities.
The Robert Harris book of the same name, of which the film is an adaptation, is essentially an 'airport novel' that's as gripping as any of the best works of Dan Brown. While there is no character going about stalking or murdering anyone, the film's atmosphere behaves like that of a thriller, given that the idea of electing the right candidate — it entails a thorough background check, conflicting viewpoints, and cognisance of character flaws — generates a considerable measure of tension and suspense.
I was struck by how much the Edward Berger film evoked the structure of the Sidney Lumet film 12 Angry Men while not exactly on the same par, in terms of overall strength, as that flawless masterpiece. (Well, no film has come close to dethroning it yet.) But it cannot be denied that the film has enough merits to make it worthy of being nominated in multiple categories at the impending Academy Awards. (The image of Oscar jury members sitting in a closed space to cast their ballots for a movie with a similar image is amusing, no?)
For a filmmaker, eliminating the challenges associated with a closed-space thriller/drama is no mean feat. There's always the risk of inducing heavy boredom when it involves, for instance, situations where a character has to sit on the bed looking forlorn and weary when faced with a seemingly high-pressure situation, like what Ralph Fiennes is required to do with his character in the film at times.
Fortunately for Edward Berger and his team, they get more space to operate and more characters to interact with than Lumet did in 12 Angry Men. Berger and his gifted cinematographer Stéphane Fontaine (A Prophet, Jackie) get to move around through corridors and in and out of different rooms and large dining areas.
Moreover, Fontaine employs the 2.40:1 aspect ratio to create the illusion of vastness, and give us a sense of the emotional distance between the characters and their alienation inside this constrictive space, not to mention the stunning colour palette that's not exactly reflective of real-world choices but serves the narrative well. Some tweaks were also made to the set design to make it more appealing from a visual standpoint.
But Berger, Fontaine, and screenwriter Peter Straughan are perfectly aware that, like 12 Angry Men, one can create a riveting film when you put together characters with their set of prejudices, egos, shameful pasts, and life-altering (or empowering) trauma.
And as with the Lumet film, these characters and their viewpoints open up space for us to conduct our self-introspection — how we look at the world, how much we have evolved from what we once were, what we would've done if we were in the shoes of one of these Cardinals, and how it relates to the political climate of our part of the world or someone else's, and much more...
