Succinct Cinema: Conclave

Issue 1

Greetings Friends! As you may recall before I took a pause in May 2025 on my weekly newsletter “Loving Spoonful” (after a year and a half non-stop), I mentioned a new sub-series that I would be launching upon return. This week I published a new current events newsletter with “Loving Spoonful” called No Kings and Other Tales.… But starting TODAY I’m launching the new sub-series called SUCCINCT CINEMA. I started Succinct Cinema about 12 years ago before stopping to write more newsy stuff for a few years and I always wanted to bring it back— so here we are! This sub-series is a brief, weekly movie/tv review based on my unique succinct observation and experience of a given work. It’s meant to be a fun weekly read/review of new, old and future cinematic arts. Enjoy!

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Succinct Cinema artwork for Conclave (2024) by Mary Hawkins.

True to life, given the sudden passing of Pope Francis in April 2025, Conclave (2024) is a visually stunning feature film that explores the policies and procedures of papal service in the Vatican alongside a bevy of fascinating so-called “men of the cloth.” More specifically Conclave follows Cardinal Lawrence, a trusted acolyte of the late Pope who is tasked with leading the formal gathering of cardinals across the globe to choose a new pontiff. Starring Ralph Feinnes, Stanley Tucci, Isabella Rossellini, Lucian Msamati, John Lithgow and Carlos Diehz among a variety of compelling character actors, it was a rumbling sensation since its premiere at Telluride Film Festival. The film confronts the depressing truth about pride, greed, envy, wrath and other seven deadly sins within the Vatican.

An opening scene from Conclave (2024) which was an awards season favorite through to the Oscars in 2025 with Best Adapted Screenplay for writer Peter Straughan. Actors Ralph Fiennes and Isabella Rossellini were also nominated for lead and supporting roles, respectively.

A still from Se7en (1995) starring Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman as rookie and veteran detectives pursuing a twisted serial killer who leaves biblical messages with his victims based on “the seven deadly sins” of Roman Catholic theology.

Thankfully unlike David Fincher’s 1995 hit Seven, the mystery box is filled with ballots not body parts, and yet Conclave remains tense and compelling to watch as we navigate the strange foreign world of Catholic regalia, ritual and visible opulence through the eyes of Cardinal Lawrence (Feinnes). Despite the obvious exploration of power, Conclave is a stirring film, with numerous opportunities for silent observation or reflection. So much so that one cannot help but wonder if it is a meditation on faith, defined as “strong belief in God or in the doctrines of a religion, based on spiritual apprehension rather than proof.” Do you believe? Do you have faith that divine inspiration will come?

A powerful scene between Cardinal Lawrence (Raplph Fiennes) and Sister Shanumi (Balkissa Souley Maiga) from Conclave (2024).

As much as the film takes us through a political process, one cannot escape the essence of the late Pope Francis, who I suspect informed the making of this film. Pope Francis was a figure who loved the poor and sought to shield the innocent particularly in difficult regions of the world beyond the Vatican and its trappings. He was a man of faith. And in my experience those who truly have faith are often released from the material idolatry of religion. It’s ironic.

Conclave is a political thriller about choosing a global figurehead, but it is also a spiritual examination of faith in times of great uncertainty.