“Conclave” in the cinema – “Conclave” by Edward Berger: The Pope in a plastic bag

In “Conclave,” director Edward Berger tackles nothing less than the legendary election of the Pope. In a place where all eyes in the world are focused, he creates an oppressive political thriller with intrigue, manipulation and surprising twists, not only thanks to Ralph Fiennes’ nuanced acting.

In an interview with »nd«, Berger explains that when he made the film adaptation of Robert Harris’s bestseller, he was concerned with themes of power politics, for example: What does it trigger in people when such a seat of power suddenly becomes vacant? How do people get out their knives and how do they stab each other in the back? He wanted to explore all of this on film. The “conclave,” says Berger, is of course interesting because it is so mysterious and shrouded in legend. In the film, over 100 cardinals from all over the world gather to elect the new pope in the Sistine Chapel under the leadership of Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes). The film begins with the death of the old pope.

With the help of a religious teacher, Edward Berger learned a lot about the process when the pope is elected. Among other things, he learned what happens after the Pope dies: His signet ring is taken away, the personal seal is knocked off and the ring is kept safe until the next Pope is allowed to wear it with his own emblem. It was important to Berger to proceed as realistically as possible. In other scenes the director doesn’t take it too seriously. For example, the Casa Santa Marta, a kind of hotel in which the cardinals are staying for the election of the new head of the church, was in reality very ugly.

So Berger built another, very dark hotel with walls covered in black and white marble. It fit better into his clear color concept. For Berger, who reconstructed the Sistine Chapel in the Cinecittà Studios Rome with the help of set designer Suzie Davies, the contrasts were particularly important: “The great ecclesiastic architecture of the chapel is now juxtaposed with the Casa Santa Marta as an oppressive, almost gloomy prison. The place should have something cramped and claustrophobic about it. When Ralph Fiennes closes the door to his room, it sucks the sound out of the room. All you can hear is his breathing and the hum of the neon lights. Since the windows in Casa Santa Marta remain closed, no noise from outside penetrates into the hotel. You can feel this atmosphere.

You enter this hotel together with Cardinal Lawrence. At first we film over his shoulder, but later we see him doing research to find the real Pope. The Cardinals whisper in the stairwell and trade tactics in their bedrooms as Lawrence becomes more and more the focus of the election. In Ralph Fiennes’ eyes you can see the desperate emotional state of his character, whose throat becomes a little tighter with each unsuccessful vote. The nerve-wracking election even puts his friendship with Bellini (Stanley Tucci) to the test.

The film gains intensity through Ralph Fiennes’ breathing alone. As Fiennes watched the entire film in the dubbing studio, Edward Berger recorded the actor reacting live to his character. Breathed. »We then used that in the film to feel him in every moment. Flowing fabric, footsteps on marble… These individual tones are incredibly important, especially in the silence.«

Edward Berger worked musically with Volker Bertelmann for the fifth time. He created dissonant sounds with an orchestra of up to 40 string instruments, percussion instruments and a piano, which he used in a variety of ways. He would scratch the sides of the piano with his hands or tap the sides to drum on them. He also used an unusual instrument: the Cristal Baschet is made of glass rods that wet fingers rub against. It developed into an important instrument in the score.

»We didn’t want film music, as is traditionally used so often. She should rub herself against the picture, she should give blows that almost jump out at us and attack us,” says Berger. For him, music is a means “to create a dialogue with the image, a contrast that wakes me up and creates an inner tension. Through the music you should understand what is going on inside Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes).«

Edward Berger based his work on Alan J. Pakula’s conspiracy thrillers “The Untouchables” or “Witness to a Conspiracy”. Berger: “The tempo is rather slow, but you think: the walls have ears.” You also get that feeling with “Konklave”. Also because you get closer to the cardinals on a human level.

In Rome, as he drank his espresso and watched a nun smoking, Berger realized what he wanted to bring to the film: “We always put the clergy on a pedestal and think that they are holy and know everything better than us, because we think they have grasped the secret of life; but they are just people like you and me. With mistakes, sins, regrets and weaknesses. That’s why in our film the Pope ends up in a plastic bag at the back of the ambulance. When they arrive in Rome, a few cardinals are standing in the smoking corner in the film, while another is checking his smartphone.

Visually, Berger uses a clear color concept of black (the nuns, the hotel) and a rich red, as you can see in old Renaissance paintings or photos from the 50s and 60s. This satiety can also be found in the hotel in the form of a red carpet that leads to the empty room of the late Pope.

Berger, together with cameraman Stéphane Fontaine, repeatedly finds new images for the actually quite unspectacular election process. Black smoke rises when there is no majority decision during the election process, white smoke when the Pope has been elected. The umbrellas are black when the cardinals arrive, later they are white. Edward Berger leaves nothing to chance, but rather celebrates perfection in all crafts and creates a masterpiece.

»Conclave«, UK/USA 2024. Director: Edward Berger; Book: Peter Straughan & Robert Harris, based on the novel by Robert Harris. Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow, Isabella Rosselini. 120 minutes. Start: November 21st.