Conclave (2024)

PG, and sweet mercy, I don't know what PG means anymore.  For blog after blog, I've been rallying that every movie has been too harshly rated.  Then, there's this movie about sex scandals all throughout, and it's PG?  My theory was always that the new MPAA was all about intended audience and I can't think of any young person who would want to sit through Conclave.  

DIRECTOR: Edward Berger

It's late at night and I just finished Conclave after we watched it in three separate nights.  (It's a long movie and I went back to work while the kids had off.) I'm trying to stay on top of writing blogs as soon as I watch them because there's going to be a glut of them for the coming months.  Honestly, if I had my druthers, I would have gone to see a movie at the theater.  But it's another snowpalypse in Cincinnati, so that seems like a dumb reason to make our children into orphans.  Especially considering that a ton of these movies for the Academy Awards shortlist are on streaming right now.

It's amazing that I started off with the most challenging out of the group.  I don't know how much I'm going to promote that I saw Conclave, simply because it deals with a subject matter that is incredibly sensitive and nuanced.  Normally, controversy and me are best pals.  I've always acknowledged that I'm a hypocrite.  But I think there might be more than simple hypocrisy here.  Part of why I might be less about promoting this blog isn't because of the gender stuff.  Heck, if it was just about the gender stuff, I probably wouldn't shut up about this movie.  (Although my more conservative friends calling this movie "silly" aren't entirely wrong from a realism point of view.  I'll probably get to that later in this blog.)  No, the problem I'm having is that I'm struggling with a lot of this stuff faith wise.

I haven't been exactly quiet over my crisis of faith over the past few years.  Since the rise of Donald Trump to political heights, I can't say that I've been in love with the way that the Church has responded to what I deem a dangerous precedent, especially when it comes to embracing Christian Nationalism.  For a long time, I thought that my faith was just washing away.  Instead, I think I've had to really question what I really believe versus what I think I believe.  Again, unpacking a lot of this.  I'm still figuring out exactly what I really believe.  I think I've grown closer to the actual teachings of the Gospels.  I think I love what the Church is supposed to be about.  But one of the things that I've had to dispel is that the Church --which is meant to be the Spouse of the Spirit --being more than a political grouping of adults who are all harboring their own political motivations, which includes backstabbing and, more importantly, horrible beliefs that should be considered in direct contrast to Christ's beliefs.

For those who aren't Catholic or struggling faith wise, you may find this not to be this big deal.  The thing is, I was raised to believe that there was nothing that could be really doubted.  The idea of a cafeteria Catholic was blasphemous.  These were people who weren't really Catholic in the eyes of the Church.  It's part of the Creed, after all.  But Conclave, at its core, is about watching how unspiritual the Curia really is.  I mean, it's all about ritual and ceremony.  Golly, Conclave is swimming in ritual and ceremony.  But it all feels like this is "Just something that we do" versus being moved by the intensity of these times.  Even the Pope, who is greatly loved in this film, is fundamentally just a man who makes some poor choices.  It's a lot to take in.  For Conclave to be kind of a big deal right now is hitting me in the feels.  And that's probably the movie's goal.  I don't know how they did it, but they decided to hold off on making this movie until I was going through all these crises of faith to confirm what I'm already struggling with.  (For those people not reading the irony, I'm stating that I'm aware that there probably is a surge of people feeling the same way and the release of Conclave is a response to that.)

When it comes to building this world and letting us see behind closed doors of the Curia, I have a vibe that Conclave nails it.   My wife and I had an immediate discussion after the movie ended and I think we both landed in the same place.  90% of the movie is phenomenal.  Between colors, cinematography, the whole mise en scene, and the performances, the movie absolutely nails it.  It gets you aggressively invested.  The movie intentionally pushes you into comfort zones only to rip you out of those zones immediately.  It reminds you that there is no perfect person, let alone a perfect pope.  The sheer amount of talent and skill behind Conclave is impressive as heck and, for that reason alone, I think the movie is incredible.  I want to recommend it to everyone.  But I also stated that the movie is, at its core, hilariously silly.

I talked about gender.  I'm going to call its commentary on gender subtle for most of the movie.  Others might disagree with me.  I didn't feel the sledgehammer until the end of the movie.  Before I talk about the silly part, I want to talk about the effective message throughout about gender.  I'm stating the obvious, but the Church is a boys' club.  Yes, women have their roles inside the Church, but Conclave is not afraid to remind you that men have the real power within the Church.  But when you cast Isabella Rosselini in a movie all about men, you know that there has to be a message about women.  The sisters of the film are the observers of the foolish notions that the men of the Curia hold.  While Lawrence might have good intentions, he is a fairly helpless dude.  He constantly needs help from outsiders.  Most of the time, he looks to his assistant, who is also a man.  Now, Archbishop (?) O'Malley is a lovely man who tries his best.  But his entire personality is "overwhelmed."  He gets information slowly.  It's Sister Agnes who is just sitting on a mound of information that desperately needs to be shared.  While the women of the story are mostly overlooked as even basic human beings in the Curia, their silent observation gives them a sense of tortured wisdom.

That stuff is great.  But the movie wants to end on a bombshell.  I get it.  The movie dances around the notion of progressivism versus toxic traditionalism throughout the film.  After all, the movie starts off with the forward thinking Bellini versus the Trumpian Todesco as the big fight.  As the votes keep being offered up and failing, a very Twilight Zone-y character starts gaining more and more traction.  Now, the movie is trying to fake you out a bit.  There's this atmosphere and implication that Benitez is not a real Cardinal.  No one has ever heard of this guy and he is so charismatic that there has to be something up with this dude.  At one point, you know that Benitez has to be a real contender for pope and that's the way that the movie is going.  Okay.  Interesting.  But when he becomes pope, you have to wonder what's the big reveal.  While I was ready for this guy to be an imposter, the silly part comes with its commentary on gender.  I'm spoiling it, but Benitez has some gender incongruous organs.  I'm dancing around the fact that he is male, except for the fact that he has ovaries and a uterus.  You know how you hear that gender is a spectrum.  Sometimes that is a physical thing as well.  In a loosey-goosey way, the movie teases the notion of trans rights without wholly embracing them.  

And it's such a bombshell that doesn't get the cinematic real estate that it needs.  The Benitez reveal is a movie all in itself and instead we only get a thirty second speech explaining that he decides to keep the organs because he's always had them.  We don't get a deep moral discussion about this moment.  If anything, it's meant to be this "Deal with it, audience" moment.  It's meant to make some people mad and other people cheer.  But the reality of the situation is that the whole thing is a bit silly when you think about how dodgy the Church is about gender.  Like, this movie is meant to be a criticism about how regressive the church is on gender, yet this guy fell upwards to the papacy.  First of all, there's a lot of hoops that the movie has to get Benitez in a point where no one would know this major moment for him.  Benitez also is incredibly coy about his secret until after he is elected pope.  Here's the deal.  Benitez is either super progressive (which isn't really his character.  He's empathetic, but also a practical dude because he's advocating for Lawrence to become pope) or just a weirdo who doesn't know how the papacy works.  Like, if O'Malley finds out Benitez's secret, does he think that the press won't find out?  It doesn't feel like Benitez is trying to take down the Church either.  If anything, it just feels like he hasn't thought it out.

Which is why he chooses the name "Innocent"!  Yeah, there's something to be said about Benitez's childlike view of faith.  It's great.  He has this great moment where he shames Todesco for not knowing what war looks like.  He also advocates for Lawrence because he believes that Lawrence's lack of enthusiasm for becoming pope makes him the ideal papal candidate.  But the reveal there is beyond the pale.  I either want the movie to make the movie about the gender reveal or don't do any part of it.  It all feels like it wants its audience to do its own heavy lifting, which feels more like a writing prompt than actual commentary that the movie is making.  It only feels brave of the filmmakers for a hot second.  I don't need that kind of bravery.  I want you to say SOMETHING, not just that it shouldn't matter.  Make the whole movie about it, not an afterthought to a movie that is about something else throughout.  This is me really trying to add thought to it and I could say that it is a commentary on those who think that they are progressive being terrified stupid about actual progress.

It's an incredible movie that's hindered by lack of depth at the end.  Again, I don't mind controversy when it comes to gender roles in the church, especially with topics that border with transgenerism.  But do it loud and proud.  Don't bury it at the end as a "gotcha" ending.  The rest of the movie is given so much nuanced depth and then this is thrown in at the end?  Nah, this movie didn't need the surprise ending. Do it from moment one and I'll find the movie way less silly.