The sin Cardinal Lawrence fears may be “certainty,” but Conclave (2024) is a film forged with it, and the 4K UHD home release is no different. The extras include a featurette on the making of the film and a director’s commentary. In that commentary, director Edward Berger (All Quiet on the Western Front; Patrick Melrose) talks about how difficult it was to get the beginning right, and that he cut several scenes that will not be appearing as deleted scenes on this disk because he was right to cut them. Universal doesn’t seem to have any doubts either, releasing this on 4K UHD Blu-ray on February 11th, 2025, just as Oscar voting and Oscar-watcher marathon seasons hit full stride.
For a spoiler-free review, head over to EoM Contributor Justin Waldman’s initial Toronto International Film Festival 2024 review.
Ralph Fiennes stars as Cardinal Lawrence in director Edward Berger’s CONCLAVE, a Focus Features release. Photo courtesy of Focus Features. © 2024 Focus Features, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Conclave is a favorite for Best Picture, a strong contender in the Best Adapted Screenplay (its viral turtles are an ingenious invention of the film), and an underappreciated entry in the cinematography categories along with costume design. In the latter two, it has to square up against Nosferatu (2024), so it’s no surprise that much of the commentary and featurette focuses on Berger’s collaboration with screenwriter Peter Straughan (Thinker Tailor Soldier Spy; Frank), costume designer Lisy Christl (A Hidden Life; All Quiet on the Western Front), and cinematographer Stéphane Fontaine (Captain Fantastic; Jackie).
“I no longer know what my duty is.”
There are greater achievements in cinematography this year, Nickel Boys (2024) and Nosferatu, again, both come to mind. But Conclave is shot exceptionally well with the strengths of RED digital cameras in mind. All that fine digital detail. Deep focus down hallways, high dynamic range with proper contrast but no crunch in the blacks. Red-crowned cardinals seeking refuge in mint-green pews. These things put a world under the microscope, providing a great showcase of how to make a film with Red Raptor and other non-Ari digital cameras. The colors pop in UHD, especially those custom cardinal uniforms made from heavier, more vibrant cloth than the real thing. But those strengths come from compensating for the weakness of digital as well.
L-R: Director Edward Berger and actor Ralph Fiennes on the set of CONCLAVE, a Focus Features release. Photo Credit: Philippe Antonello/Focus Features. ©2024 Focus Features, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
On the 4K disc, there is some blue digital noise in the magenta of Brian F. O’Byrne’s (The Wonder; Million Dollar Baby) uniform during the meeting where his character O’Malley tells Lawrence, played by Ralph Fiennes (Schindler’s List; The Grand Budapest Hotel), about a secret document. During voting, some darker African skin could be better rendered but also could have been better lit in the first place. Maybe an amber bounce card in their lap to edge-light the creases of their face a little. Regardless, as it often does, UHD struggles to apply high dynamic range to these skin tones and highlights the weaknesses of digital noise.
Carlos Diehz stars as Cardinal Benitez in director Edward Berger’s CONCLAVE, a Focus Features release. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Focus Features. © 2024 All Rights Reserved.
These things are consequences, not accidents. The disk is mastered well, but it cannot replace trade-offs made on set. Digital camera banding restricts production and costume designers to materials with less texture. It’s part of our “why does it look like that” crisis. This struggle is clear in the mastering of O’Malley’s magenta, but it’s also used to the film’s advantage. Film grain is magic because it creates a layer of abstraction that makes it easier to fall into the story. But this movie uses the hyper-clean look of digital, so the un-realness of the film’s interpretations of the catholic garb, changing shades and textures, creates a different abstraction to aid the emulsion of the audience. Liminal people in a real liminal world. Some of the best shots in cinema this year are of these cardinals in big blocks of red and white moving through courtyards and chapels, and these are the shots that Berger and his team compromised others to achieve.
Isabella Rossellini stars as Sister Agnes in director Edward Berger’s CONCLAVE, a Focus Features release. Photo courtesy of Focus Features. © 2024 Focus Features, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
This mixing of hyper-reality and abstraction is the film’s message made into craft. The tone of the film is pulpy because institutions are full of pulpy things: intrigue, backstabbing, scandals, and crisis. Institutions are real, therefore so is the pulp. That’s why people love it so much. The form of pulpy whodunnits allows one to deepen a shallow text through genre structure.
“What he had lost faith in was the church.”
Conclave is remarkable for consolidating religious and political culture wars into a battle not over whether or not to upend the status quo, but over defining who is benefitting from a status quo that must be upended. This is a film meant to provoke, and it’s managed to offend the likes of Megyn Kelly and other right-wing pundits who get triggered by any film that takes people of faith seriously as people. It’s also meant to provoke those liberal in faith and faithfully liberal, as well, but it has failed to do so. Like the Zionist praise of The Zone of Interest (2023) last year, the liberal party-line embrace of Conclave lays their lack of self-awareness bare. As the film shouts from the rooftops, just because you are not the most hateful voice in the room does not mean you are automatically the most virtuous. You must stand for things, not just against them.
L-R: Actor Isabella Rossellini and director Edward Berger on the set of CONCLAVE, a Focus Features release. Photo Credit: Philippe Antonello/Focus Features. ©2024 All Rights Reserved.
I’ve seen the end of Conclave three times now and, as with all good films, it has only grown. In my memory of the first viewing, the flashy ending hit like lightning and got out fast. But in sitting with the film, I am struck by the prayerful nature of its final few minutes. What seems like an act of God is actually the result of several separate acts of dutiful faith. Or is that what acts of God are in the end? And as we watch doubt be wrestled with one last time, is the final choice in doubt? Or the premise of the choice itself? I will admit I have found myself sometimes confused by the strong awards contention of Isabella Rossellini (Blue Velvet; Marcel the Shell with Shoes On) for her very short role in the film, but now, maybe I think she should win. Her performance is the definition of an artistic keystone, and if you buy the film, you can watch it over and over until you see what I mean.
Why couldn’t they be pope?
Conclave Special Features*:
- Sequestered: Inside Conclave – Go behind the scenes with the cast and filmmakers to see what it took to raise the curtain on one of the most secretive and secluded processes in the world.
- Feature Commentary with Director Edward Berger
*Bonus features may vary by product and retailer
Available on digital November 26th, 2024.
Available on Blu-ray and DVD December 17th, 2024.
Available on 4K UHD Blu-ray February 11th, 2025.
For more information, head to the official Focus Features Conclave webpage.
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Categories: Films To Watch, Home Release, Recommendation
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