The Pope has died and Cardinal Thomas Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) has to shoulder the responsibility of picking a new one. The centuries-long procedure of the conclave, in which all cardinals of the Catholic Church are locked together in Rome until a two-thirds majority has been found for a new pope, offers the ideal backdrop for a thriller with its rules and rituals. No wonder that Robert Harris, master of historical crime novels, chose this subject from modern-day Rome.

After ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT, Edward Berger stages a war of a different kind. There are civilized battles here, with words and intrigues for the future of a spiritual world power – and for personal goals and ambitions. With their conspiracies and dark secrets, the cardinals are by no means holier than other politicians campaigning. Liberals and conservatives fight each other just like Europeans and Africans, and an unknown person stirs up the situation: the Archbishop of Kabul, whom the late Pope had secretly appointed a cardinal. What’s interesting is that everyone is also wrestling with questions of conscience and faith; the whole thing has a dimension that goes beyond power politics. Lawrence navigates through a sea of crises, struggles with his faith and his church, becomes more and more entangled, and has to throw certain self-perceptions and self-imposed limits overboard.

The film uses the possibilities of the setting to produce grand images. The trapped cardinals and the election procedure in the Sistine Chapel seem like relics from a different time, sometimes it’s absurdly comical, but also seriously searching for deeper meaning. Only the penetrating music is annoying.

Susanne Stern (INDIEKINO MAGAZIN)

Translation: Elinor Lewy