Conclave Blu-ray + Digital Code

There is something uniquely exhilarating about entering a film with no particular interest in its subject matter only to end up utterly captivated. I cannot imagine many moviegoers craving for a dramatization of a modern day papal election, but Edward Berger chose just such a thing for his follow-up to his Oscar-winning 2021 German language adaptation All Quiet on the Western Front.

This time out, Berger is working in English, adapting Robert Harris’ 2016 novel of the same name in Conclave. Perhaps you expect something preachy or pious of a drama set exclusively in Vatican City as esteemed cardinals from all over the world gather to choose a successor to the suddenly deceased leader of the Roman Catholic Church. You do not get those ingredients at least not to the extent that you get a rich character study, an immersive mystery, and a gripping portrait of the policies and politics by which the Church is run.

The screenplay by Peter Straughan, who defies his spotty track record (The Snowman, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Goldfinch), deftly establishes a few potential pope-elects and what they are about. They include the frank and forward-thinking Bellini (a solid Stanley Tucci), the conservative Italian Tedesco (Sergio Castellitto), the divisive Tremblay (John Lithgow), and the popular and Africa’s potentially historic Adeyemi (Lucian Msamati). There is also an eleventh-hour possibility in Cardinal Benitez (Carlos Diehz), whose very existence comes as a disarming surprise to the congregation. Overseeing the election with cunning calculation and public calmness is Cardinal Thomas Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes), who repeatedly attracts votes while claiming, to decreasing believability, to have no interest in himself becoming the next Pope.

In its structure, Conclave recalls 12 Angry Men, Sidney Lumet’s towering, talky 1957 drama set almost entirely within the confines of a sweltering murder trial jury room. Like that masterpiece, Berger’s film plays with evolving perceptions and shifting sentiments. We are never sure who will emerge as the new pope, but we sure as heck care as the drama plays out and scandals take shape to disqualify the different contenders.

Lawrence is our supremely compelling access point, allowing Fiennes to command the screen here like few have ever before done so. Getting a read on our protagonist is a delightful challenge. Is this so-called “manager” a grand puppet master, shining a light on the reasons that others could not assume the church’s highest position? Is he a dark horse whose private discouraging of votes for him is some form of reverse psychology? Whatever the case, Fiennes is as magnetic and nuanced as he’s ever been.

It’s the kind of performance that you could easily imagine yielding an Academy Award, something you might be surprised to discover that Fiennes has never won. In fact, it’s been nearly thirty years since his mere two nominations as the lead of 1996’s Best Picture winner The English Patient and a supporting actor in 1993’s Best Picture Schindler’s List. In the decades since those World War II epics, Fiennes has never been hard up for fulfilling high-profile work. He has managed to succeed in a great variety of mainstream and art cinema: four Harry Potter movies, three James Bonds, both Clash and Wrath of the Titans. If pressed to choose a favorite performance, I’m sure that many would point to his fundamentally different work in two dissimilar but widely beloved comedies, as effete protagonist M. Gustave in Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel and the foul-mouthed ruthless assassin Harry in Martin McDonagh’s In Bruges.

Oscar wins that feel like overdue lifetime achievement honors do sometimes occur (e.g. Julianne Moore in Still Alice) and Fiennes’ massive and mostly terrific body of work undoubtedly warrants such recommendation. But his performance in Conclave is outstanding enough that it could well win without any further consideration of his career at large. While I’ve still got a handful of potential contenders to see, the only work at this lofty height that I’ve seen this year is Colman Domingo in Sing Sing, which happens to be the year’s only other release to earn such an enthusiastic recommendation for me.

Conclave is not a film you should see as preparation for the Academy Awards or out of any kind of obligation, but as powerful cinema and drama of the highest order. The film’s PG rating from the MPA is both highly unusual and fitting. There truly is nothing by the ratings board’s standards to justify a stricter rating. And yet, encountering a rating that has become the de facto standard for even mild animated family films attached to a drama with almost exclusively adult appeal is richly ironic. We must return to the 1980s to find adult-oriented award winners carrying PG ratings: Chariots of Fire, Gandhi, Driving Miss Daisy. The first two of those predated the advent of PG-13. Conclave has little in common with those yesteryear honorees. It simply focuses on a group that doesn’t invoke profanity and whose moral lapses do not involve drugs, violence, or (onscreen) sex.

While it may make for a ridiculous ratings block (“thematic material and smoking”) that most of the target audience will pay no heed, Conclave‘s subject also gives it unique appeal. With secularity seemingly on an unending rise and faith-based cinema being a mostly embarrassing class of amateurish works, here is a major mainstream wide release that considers what contemporary life looks like for spiritual leaders. We think of the Catholic Church as one of the oldest and most traditional institutions in the world, but although sequestered, the cardinals of Conclave are not living in a bubble. Their political maneuverings are very much influenced by how the public will perceive their stances and statements. They vote by hand, with a Latin utterance and a folded paper ballot, but they exist in our world, housed in surprisingly state-of-the-art quarters with modern day amenities. These contrasts give the film a distinct, haunting atmosphere and real-world relevance regardless of your religious affiliations or lack thereof. Berger’s deliberate and spellbinding presentation maximizes details like these, rendering the film as full of intrigue as any prior political thriller.

In theaters, Conclave grossed $30 million domestically, a small sum for the industry at large but a respectable haul for a dialogue-driven adult drama about church leaders. That puts it in prime position to compete for major awards, having already found more of an audience than many of the year’s most critically celebrated films (Anora, Sing Sing, and, domestically, The Substance). While it has spent this month racking up critics awards and nominations, Conclave now comes to 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD this week just in time for Christmas gift-giving.

BLU-RAY DISC SPECIFICATIONS:
2.39:1 Widescreen
Dolby 7.1 (English), Dolby 5.1 (Spanish), Descriptive Video Service
English for Hearing Impaired, Spanish
Release Date: December 17, 2024
Single-sided, dual-layered disc (BD-50)
Blue Keepcase in Cardboard Slipcover

VIDEO and AUDIO

In what should come as a surprise to absolutely no one, Conclave boasts terrific picture and sound quality in high definition. This is a film full of technical power and beauty, so the flawless presentation is easy to appreciate.

BONUS FEATURES, MENUS, PACKAGING and DESIGN

On Blu-ray, Conclave includes two bonus features.

“Sequestered: Inside Conclave” (16:47) is a solid making-of featurette supplying behind-the-scenes footage and tasteful sit-down interview remarks from cast and crew. Touching on technical and dramatic aspects alike, the piece gladly contains the level of thought you expect from such a rich production.

We also get a feature audio commentary by director Edward Berger. Berger has plenty to talk about, mentioning deleted scenes he felt weren’t worth including, digital extensions performed to the set, his inspirations (a number of 1970s thrillers), casting, costumes, hard sound edits, and so on. The track would have benefitted from someone else’s participation; there’s a decent amount of dead air and, like most solo tracks, this one grows a tad dull. Still, it’s a nice extra at a time when everyone but Criterion seems to be phasing these out.

The basic, static menu adds some striking score excerpts to poster imagery. No trailers for Conclave or anything else are found on the disc.

The lone insert within the glossily slipcovered blue keepcase provides your unique code for the Movies Anywhere digital copy of the film that’s included with your purchase.

CLOSING THOUGHTS

While Conclave‘s Blu-ray is a fairly standard 2024 release, the movie itself warrants notice as one of 2024’s very best and something you’re likely to admire enough to revisit.