Everything to Know About Conclave, the Papal Thriller Starring Ralph Fiennes

When you've got a film packed with Oscar nominees, directed by an Oscar winner, it's hard not to have high hopes. Of course, when it comes to high hopes, it's hard to get much higher than the papacy. 

Later this month, Oscar nominees Ralph Fiennes (nominated for The English Patient and Schindler's List), Stanley Tucci (The Lovely Bones), and John Lithgow (Terms of Endearment, The World According to Garp) lead the stellar ensemble cast of Focus Features' Conclave, directed by Oscar winner Edward Berger (who won the 2023 Academy Award for Best International Feature Film for All Quiet on the Western Front).

RELATED: It's a Holy War in Focus Features' First Trailer for Catholic Thriller Conclave

The film is a bold adaption of Robert Harris's 2016 international bestselling thriller of the same name, which revolves around the Catholic tradition of the Papal Conclave, when Cardinals gather inside the secretive walls of the Vatican to elect the new Bishop of Rome, aka the Pope. Alas, with the death of the beloved last Pope embroiled in mystery and perhaps treachery, this particular Conclave is filled with even more drama.

What is Conclave about?

As the title suggests, Conclave revolves around the ancient and covert practice of the Conclave, where, upon the death of the former Pope, Cardinals from all over the world come to the Vatican's Sistine Chapel to select the new Pope. In Conclave, the circumstances of the former Pope's death are suspicious, which certainly complicates the matter, which is already a complicated confluence of tradition, politics, and faith. 

Alas, it's the sacred duty of Cardinal Lawrence (Fiennes), the dean of the College of Cardinals, to oversee the election, to run these secretive proceedings. So he sequesters the most powerful global leaders of the Catholic Church inside the sacred and secret-holding walls of the Sistine Chapel. "Lawrence uncovers a trail of deep secrets left in the dead Pope’s wake, secrets which could shake the foundations of the Church," teases Conclave's official synopsis.

Throughout the 72 hours portrayed in the film, Cardinal Lawrence runs smack dab into all the subterfuge surrounding the prior Pope's unexpected death, and all the infighting among the Cardinals trying to nab the big cathedra, namely Cardinal Bellini (Tucci) of the Vatican, Cardinal Tedesco (Sergio Castellitto) of Venice, Cardinal Tremblay (Lithgow) of Montreal, and Cardinal Adeyemi (Lucian Msamati) of Nigeria, who's trying to become the first African pope in history. And yet, as Bellini tells Lawrence in Conclave's trailer, "No sane man would want the papacy." 

Featuring a stellar, award-ready cast, it's a gripping look inside the secret workings of the Catholic Church as well as a taut, psychological thriller. Indeed, with a little luck (or perhaps a blessing or two), Conclave, which currently holds a 90% on Rotten Tomatoes, may just be one of the film's we're still talking about come Awards Season.

Ralph Fiennes as Cardinal Lawrence and Stanley Tucci as Cardinal Bellini in director Edward Berger's CONCLAVE. Photo: Courtesy of Focus Features