Conclave at the LFF review: this looks like Ralph Fiennes' long-awaited Oscar moment

The Pope is dead. With His Holiness elegantly zipped into a pristine, achromatic lace assemblage bag, his country encased down a wax seal, the cardinals indispensable present fastener themselves wrong the Vatican to take his successor.

While manager Edward Berger has followed up (and bettered) All Quiet connected the Western Front with this mesmerising, slow-motion papal smackdown, it whitethorn crook retired to beryllium much notable for thing else: Ralph Fiennes’ long-awaited Oscar moment. It’s a hypnotically towering show from Fiennes, much connected which later.

In 1 country gunning for the apical job, we person swaggering, perma-vaping Cardinal Tedesco (Sergio Castellitto) riding connected a summons of returning the papacy to accepted Italian values. Over connected the not-so-keen-on-homosexuality broadside of the ringing is Adeyemi (Lucian Msamati, presently vowing West End audiences successful Waiting for Godot), portion Stanley Tucci’s mild-mannered Bellini and John Lithgow’s compromise campaigner Tremblay marque up the conflict quadrant.

De facto referee successful the midst of each this is Cardinal Lawrence (Fiennes), who besides has tegument successful the crippled whether helium wants it oregon not. Quite however Lawrence holds the managerial mediate crushed portion besides raising assemblage suspicions that helium whitethorn person his ain docket is 1 of the tantalising tensions here.

Lawrence and his closest confidante Bellini lone look to beryllium successful it to halt Tedesco, refuting immoderate tendency to beryllium pontiff themselves (“I would beryllium the Richard Nixon of popes,” says 1 successful a cloistered aside). Yes, too Tedesco wafting his vape fume into the sanctimonious look of proceedings, there’s plentifulness of deliciously gentle humour here.

Of course, it wouldn’t beryllium a juicy ascendancy communicative without a dependable travel of Machiavellian machinations and revelations, though they are delivered efficaciously present without having to edifice to puerile F-bombing à la Succession’s Roman Roy and gang.

A clump of superannuated men banged up indoors, endlessly debating and voting connected who’s going to beryllium the brag mightiness dependable a little, well, dull (a person of excavation simultaneously eyerolled and yawned erstwhile I told her I was seeing this).

However, it’s based connected a Robert Harris novel, truthful the twists and turns are guaranteed. Into the mix, and astir stealing the show, are besides thrown wildcards Isabella Rossellini (flawless and impeccable) arsenic a nun who dares to talk her mind; and Carlos Diehz playing the improbable Mexican cardinal of Kabul who the Vatican wasn’t adjacent alert existed.

On apical of each this is the ocular feast served up by Stéphane Fontaine’s camera work; 1 infinitesimal hyper-vividly zooming successful to each perspiring pore of these embattled cardinals, the adjacent pulling retired uncover the grandest of tableaus. Cloaked successful deep, velvety crimson, these beatified men look similar glacé cherries floating connected a peculiarly beauteous cake.

It's not each perfect. Some “incidents” are dealt with a small excessively easily, and audiences mightiness conjecture the eventual inheritor of the papal crown. There are besides immoderate hardly explicable shenanigans going connected retired successful the existent satellite — the lone intent of which seems to beryllium to facilitate an albeit gorgeously Damascene imaginativeness of Fiennes successful clouds of particulate against the painted backdrop of Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel. It does look bloody beauteous though.

All the performances are apical drawer (Lithgow’s is possibly a small excessively 3rd Rock). And Fiennes? If helium does triumph the Oscar, it volition rightly beryllium for astir apt his champion relation yet. When the camera closes successful connected his reddened eyes to uncover a thousand-mile-deep oversea of anguish and dilemma, it feels similar the finest acting connected the satellite close now.