The train to the 97th annual Academy Awards just keeps rolling along with nominations finally set to be announced this Thursday, January 23rd.
But even with nary an official nomination yet in sight, it’s safe to say we already know the most major contenders for what could be a close and even controversial Best Picture race.
Guaranteed nominees this year already include critical darling “Anora,” box office smash musical “Wicked,” deeply controversial Golden Globe-winner “Emilia Perez,” and the mammoth, super-sized potential frontrunner “The Brutalist” (a full review of which is coming soon.)
But there’s another competitor in the ring that’s seen its buzz more quietly fade in recent months, but that could still stage a classic Oscars upset, a film itself about the very complexities and politics of voting and crowning a winner, and one you can watch at home right now.
Yes, it’s “Conclave,” the Vatican-set, grown-up yarn about selecting a new Pope that combines the mystery and momentum of a political thriller with the gamesmanship, grandstanding, and close-quarters verbal combat of a courtroom drama.
When it made the rounds in theaters back in the fall, “Conclave” was already being regarded as one of the potential power players in the awards race, but since settling into its streaming home on Peacock, it’s been playing second fiddle to the flashier, bolder contenders.
And that’s admittedly crazy to think about because it’s tough to imagine something flashier than the pomp and circumstance of the Vatican and its papal processes, but also because this is an unapologetically bold film.
Director Edward Berger already made his distaste for decorum and oppressive traditionalism well-known with 2022’s remarkable “All Quiet on the Western Front,” and like that film, “Conclave” is a staggeringly visual achievement of production design and cinematography.
But while ‘All Quiet” placed its focus on the nihilistic detachment from the horrors of war, “Conclave” seems to revel in framing its deep ruminations on faith and reform among the Vatican’s impossibly clean and decadent riches, themselves wholly detached from the real-world gravity of the situation.
Perhaps Berger’s second smartest move is the film’s absolute refusal to ever leave the Vatican interior while the cardinals are sequestered inside. Once the doors and windows are shuttered and blocked, the audience remains fully enclosed with the men set to vote on who will be God’s new direct representative.
That means that it becomes increasingly easy for the audience to ignore—and eventually forget—the outside world in all of its complexity and chaos, just as the boisterous, ambitious men of the conclave ignore it right up until the moment they can no longer ignore it.
Berger’s smartest move, though, is undoubtedly his casting.
“Conclave” is an actor’s film in the grandest and most celebrated way. It’s a film of deep contemplations, rousing emotional monologues, and public eruptions, all the hallmarks of great theatrical acting.
Yes, it’s almost exclusively a bunch of old men (save for the maybe two scenes in which the legendary Isabella Rossellini gets to demonstrate her talent,) but it’s some of the very finest performers of their generation.
In particular, Ralph Fiennes’ lead as the man singularly tasked with organizing and overseeing the conclave – and with slowly uncovering the many buried secrets in play – is a masterful performance of inner conflict and outer confidence.
Marketing would have you believe this is a film about world-shattering conspiracy and a dark descent into political danger.
It’s not.
The secrets uncovered are grounded and believable (yes, even the big final reveal, which I’ll get to in a moment) and their ramifications are rooted in real-world considerations and true emotional concerns, and it’s Fiennes performance that allows those emotions to fully land and to resonate.
It’s those moments when the harsh realities and experiences of the outside world finally burst into the story that not only give “Conclave” its heart but that place it so openly on its sleeve.
This is a deeply political film, one that has no problem taking a stance and making its opinions explicit.
Believe it or not, “Conclave” isn’t really about Catholicism. It’s about any institutions or any aging, powerful figures that cling desperately to traditionalism and to a belief that their adherence to their old ways will save them and guide them.
It’s a story about how quickly and completely the world is changing told entirely from the perspective of an institution that’s largely opposed to that change.
And that’s why the story’s big, wild final swing actually works.
I won’t spoil it here, but if you’ve heard that “Conclave” has a giant twist at the end, then you mostly heard right.
There’s quite a bombshell dropped in the final minutes, yes, but it feels wrong to call it a “twist.”
The big reveal doesn’t turn the events of the story on their heads, rather it just explicitly embodies and personifies the story’s central theme: the real world is simply much more complicated than these men are prepared to accept.
Detractors of “Conclave” are mostly opposed to this big last-minute revelation, calling it unnecessary or forced, but shocking as it is, it’s there to make it clear what story the film has really been telling.
There is no faith without doubt, no doubt without uncertainty, and no uncertainty without the very real complications far beyond the boxes we want to put the world into.
Will all of that resonate with Oscar voters over the bigger, louder, flashier, and more musical contenders?
It’s too early to say right now, but there’s reason to doubt.
“Conclave” is streaming now on Peacock with a wide theatrical release in OKC theaters expected following the announcement of this year’s Academy Award nominations.
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Brett Fieldcamp has been covering arts, entertainment, news, housing, and culture in Oklahoma for nearly 15 years, writing for several local and state publications. He’s also a musician and songwriter and holds a certification as Specialist of Spirits from The Society of Wine Educators.