‘Conclave’ stars hope Vatican thriller leaves audiences with questions

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It’s no coincidence that in the midst of a U.S. election campaign that has had no shortage of drama comes Conclave, a movie about the search for a new pope.

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Based on Robert Harris’ 2016 bestseller, and featuring an ensemble cast that includes Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, Isabella Rossellini, John Lithgow, Sergio Castellitto, Lucian Msamati and Vancouver-based Carlos Diehz, the Edward Berger-directed thriller takes moviegoers inside the Vatican as various cardinals scheme and backstab one another for the Catholic Church’s top job.

For Harris, the seed of the novel was planted while he was watching television coverage of the 2013 conclave during which the current Pope Francis was elected. As he watched the faces of the cardinals, it occurred to him that they looked more like politicians than clerics.

“I promised myself I would do some research as to how the process works,” Harris says. “It was quickly clear that a conclave had so much dramatic potential.”

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Harris’ novel was a page-turner, but for Fiennes, who plays Cardinal Thomas Lawrence, the cardinal leading the conclave, the story perfectly melded “bigger themes” alongside political intrigue.

“It’s a political thriller, but it takes place in the Vatican,” Fiennes, 61, tells Postmedia in an interview from London. “We’re talking about these bigger themes, but really it’s just an exciting drama. Who is worthy of the place of the Pope? Who’s going to get it? There are all these men who think they’re worthy of it, but are they going to get it?”

Tucci, who co-stars as Cardinal Aldo Bellini, says the end result is a rare type of film that still gets a theatrical release: a small-budget, adult-oriented drama that forces its audiences to ask itself question about faith.

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Bellini is a religious leader hoping to modernize some of the Catholic Church.

“It’s something that you could sink your intellectual teeth into,” Tucci, 63, says, seated alongside Fiennes. “And it’s the kind of movie that isn’t necessarily made anymore.”

But along with being an unsavory look at unbridled ambition, religious doubt is a major theme of Conclave.

Lawrence is riddled with doubt that he struggles to overcome. When we meet him, he’s asked for permission to leave Rome and go to a monastery to try to rediscover his faith. It’s a character trait which Fiennes connected with.

“As an actor the great challenge and opportunity was to try and get under the skin of a man who has an interior conflict,” the British actor says. “We learn quite early on that Lawrence has doubts and he advocates for the importance of doubt as something by which you can strengthen your faith.”

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Rossellini’s Sister Agnes, who is the head nun, is supposed to stay on the sidelines, but she gets involved in the selection of the new pontiff as once-secret scandals begin to unfold.

“There’s a very strict role women play. But it doesn’t mean that women haven’t found their voices and their authority,” Rossellini, 72, says. “That’s what I loved about the script … Within this framework of constrictive rules, you can still find a voice. It doesn’t mean that you’re totally repressed.”

Tucci says the film will resonate with audiences because if offers “a glimpse into this world that only a handful of people know” and represents “our world in microcosm.”

But Berger, who directed the Oscar-winning All Quiet on the Western Front and is tipped to helm the next James Bond movie, returns to the theme of doubt that adds to the dramatic heft of the movie.

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“Can he still believe in this institution? Can he believe in the future? How can he regain his sense of purpose?” Berger, 54, asks of Lawrence’s personal journey. “Those are questions many people, and not just people of faith, face on an everyday basis.”

Conclave is sure to upset some devout believers with its startling ending. But Fiennes says the movie is supposed to leave audiences with questions.

“The audience will be asking themselves about the power within religion, about religious structures, and they should ask themselves about the value of the spiritual life and the value of having any kind of church,” the two-time Oscar nominee says.

The film provokes complex questions, whether it’s about politics or faith or religion or society, that will linger long after the movie’s final frame.

“It’s a male-dominated hierarchical structure and that’s to be questioned,” Fiennes says. “Surely, it’s to be questioned. Why do we continue to have a church where women are excluded to this extent. Those are questions that hopefully (audiences) come away asking themselves.”

Conclave is now playing in theatres.

mdaniell@postmedia.com

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