‘Conclave’ movie review: You must see this white-knuckle papal thriller

Think our presidential election is contentious? Just wait till you see a bunch of catty Catholic cardinals vie to be the next pope in “Conclave.”

Director Edward Berger’s wowing adaptation (★★★★ out of four; rated PG; in theaters Friday) of the 2016 Robert Harris novel is more electric than you’d ever expect a papal potboiler to be. Ralph Fiennes gives a steady and strong performance as the man in the middle of exquisitely watchable religious chaos. Berger improves upon his work on the Oscar-winning “All Quiet on the Western Front” remake, effortlessly weaving together locked-room mystery, courtroom drama, detective tale and political thriller in one searingly tense and timely narrative.

The pope’s unexpected death couldn’t have come at a worse time for Cardinal Lawrence (Fiennes): He’s navigating his own crisis of faith, having previously been denied leave to get right with his beliefs, when he has to honcho the conclave to elect their new leader.

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Peers and candidates alike pour into the Vatican, to be sequestered and vote for the next pope, but the strange circumstances of the pope’s death, plus tons of friction between cardinals, weigh on the already stressed-out Lawrence.

His progressive friend Bellini (Stanley Tucci) is one of the group’s favorites, though so is the power-hungry and dangerously conservative Tedesco (Sergio Castellitto). The charmingly cunning Tremblay (John Lithgow) throws his considerable political weight around while Adeyemi (Lucian Msamati) vies to become the first African pope. Then there’s Benitez (Carlos Diehz), a cardinal from Kabul that no one even knew existed outside of the deceased guy who appointed him.

Some are cool, others are corrupt, and many have hidden agendas or straight-up secrets. As alliances form and tempers flare, Lawrence becomes the de facto Saint Columbo, investigating potential scandals and assorted underhandedness as the story twists and turns before the white smoke finally wafts in the movie’s pleasantly shocking finale. (Chalk it up to divine intervention if you can see THAT coming.)

Having a bunch of ambitious religious dudes stuck in one place gives “Conclave” a hostile and explosive energy, which contrasts with the wonder and awe of the papal votes unfolding in the Sistine Chapel. (They didn’t film in the actual place but, holy cow, does Berger immerse you in the splendor anyway.)

The atmosphere is boosted by some splendid acting: Fiennes lends a vulnerable and earnest demeanor to the honorable Lawrence, while Tucci’s complexity and Lithgow’s antagonism spark their respective rival cardinals. Isabella Rossellini is also spectacular as Sister Agnes, who at first seems to be Lawrence’s nun Friday, giving him a helpful hand with her problem-solving skills, but she becomes one of the film’s chief sources of emotional warmth and moral richness.

Berger juggles a cast of characters with enough different ideologies and qualities to keep an audience invested in rooting for or against certain cardinals – he even nods to certain aspects of the Catholic Church’s shady real-life reputation to give it more depth. The thriller is both a thought-provoking investigation into real-life themes and human flaws but also an undoubtedly entertaining exercise, one where the simple act of dropping off ballots becomes a crucial aspect of a scintillating, white-knuckle affair.