Spoiler warning: The following article contains major spoilers for he Conclave remaining. If you haven’t seen the papal thriller yet, watch it streaming with a current turkey subscription and then comes back.
Eduardo Berger Conclaveone of the best movies of 2024It was a theatrical experience that I think I will never forget. Watching with a crowd of people as a group of over 100 cardinals gather in the Sistine Chapel to elect a new Pope after the death of the leader of the Catholic Church was powerful, exciting and surprising, especially when the final big twist came out of the hall. in a state of shocked silence similar to Avengers: Infinity War.
However, I recently went back and watched the Golden Globe-winning drama for the second time (I guarantee more to follow), and I have to admit that I liked it even more after subsequently watching it, as crazy as that sounds. Knowing how the movie ended didn’t take away from the experience; in fact, it was actually a better experience.
Let me explain… But before I do, SPOILER ALERT — heed my warning and do not continue unless you have seen one of the best thrillers of 2024 or I don’t care if he Conclave The ending is ruined for you.
Don’t get me wrong, I loved the end of the conclave and how it was executed
There are probably a lot of people out there who don’t care Conclave terminate or are offended by the fact that an intersex person is elected to the papacy. However, I am not in that camp. I loved the revelation that Cardinal Benitez (Carlos Diehz) was assigned male at birth only to discover much later in his life that he had a uterus and ovaries, and I loved Cardinal Lawrence’s (Ralph Fiennes) decision not to reveal this to the other cardinals and the rest of the church after the election.
Everything about the last 10 minutes of the film is perfect, and the execution of the big plot twist (all its provocations, all the intrigue and the answer) was masterfully accomplished. I say all this because I don’t want there to be any misconceptions about my thoughts on the ending or for you to be led to believe that I was offended.
Leaving this aside, let’s begin…
I was so distracted thinking about the possible twist that I ended up missing a lot of the film’s nuances.
I didn’t know how Conclave was going to end, but reading the first rumors about the movie Before its release, I knew there would be some kind of unexpected ending before everything was said and done. That being said, I spent the entire two hours trying to figure out how the movie would end and what the twist would be. Did any of the cardinals kill the Pope? Would the conclave be altered by the terrorist attacks mentioned throughout the film? Could Isabella Rossellini’s Sister Agnes do more than angrily type on computers and pray?
I was so distracted trying to understand the movie that I missed the forest for the trees. All the little nuances, the subtle gestures, the seemingly insignificant but powerful conversations, I either missed them completely or blocked them out because I was so obsessed with making sense of a twisted ending that hadn’t happened yet.
Knowing how the conclave ends, my second viewing was a much deeper experience
Looking Conclave The second time was a much more profound experience, as expected. I mean, this happens all the time when you rewatch movies, but few have come close to how much more I liked Edward Berger’s sequel. All quiet on the Western Front the second time.
There are so many scenes I was able to enjoy this time around now that the suspense is over. For example, the silent meetings between the more liberal cardinals trying to figure out how to get Cardinal Bellini (Stanley Tucci) a majority of votes led to some of my favorite moments in the film. The emotional and heartbreaking prayer shared by Lawrence and Cardinal Adeyemi (Lucian Msamati), where the former tells the latter that he will not be Pope, was more powerful than before. And then, the final shot of the laughing nuns leaving the conclave while Lawrence brings a turtle to the Vatican garden just sent me over.
Dean Lawrence’s homily at the beginning of the conclave resonated much more the second time
I completely forgot about Dean Lawrence’s powerful homily at the beginning of the conclave until I watched the movie a second time, and this scene alone made it worth a rewatch. Tasked with leading the election to elect the new Pope and, by virtue of it, the leadership of the Church, Lawrence is going through a crisis of faith (he wanted to resign before the previous Pope suddenly passed away), and it can be felt in his comment on Tolerance, certainty and mystery of faith:
Our faith is something alive precisely because it walks hand in hand with doubt. If there were only certainty and no doubt, there would be no mystery and therefore no need for faith.
He Two final minutes of the homily They’re full of great words of wisdom, hope, and reassurance, and I’m so glad I went back and reviewed what I admit was one of the best movie speeches of 2024.
In fact, I really appreciate Peter Straughan’s powerful script.
after looking Conclave For the second time, I really appreciate Peter Straughan, the screenwriter who won a golden globe for its adaptation of the 2016 novel of the same name by Robert Harris. I was surprised by how much the British playwright and screenwriter behind Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and franc I was able to fit so much into a two-hour movie without it feeling cluttered or rushed. No page, no line, no word is wasted here, and it is a testament to both Straughan’s economy of words and the nuances of his pen.
I was also able to sit back and marvel at all the fascinating shots in the film.
In addition to direction from Edward Berger and words from Peter Straughan, Conclave features incredible cinematography thanks to cinematographer Stéphane Fontaine. Almost every scene is beautifully lit, composed and filmed, sometimes creating scenes that look more like works of art in the Vatican museum than a movie on a screen.
I remember loving the shots of the cardinals arriving before the conclave, the ones of them walking in the rain with umbrellas protecting them from the deluge, and the ones of the candidates after each vote, but being able to sit back and relax the second time made them even better. And I’m sure it will be better the third time, which will happen soon.
In general, seeing Conclave The second time was an even greater experience than the first, which I think is a telltale sign of a good movie. Now I can’t wait to see how he does on the upcoming awards ceremonies In the coming weeks and months…
