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The Movie “Conclave” Challenges Concepts About Gender (Unfortunately, it stops there)
Spoiler Alert… this article reveals critical details in this film’s plot
IMDB lists director Edward Berger’s new film Conclave under the following categories: “Conspiracy Thriller,” “Drama,” “Mystery” and, finally, just plain “Thriller.”
While the story doesn’t exactly deserve to be tagged with any single one of these labels, the screenplay by Peter Straughn, based on the book by Robert Harris, certainly succeeds in conveying plenty of drama.
I, however, don’t find much of a “thrill” in watching a lingering long shot of a Cardinal descending a stone staircase, him sitting on the edge of a cloister bed, head in hand or, waiting for an octogenarian Archbishop to scrawl a name on a piece of paper.
The intrigue may be riveting and the onscreen visual strikingly beautiful throughout — the art design and cinematography is a treat for the eyes — but I could never see such a sloth-like pace ever brushing shoulders with the “thriller” genre.
Mystery?
While the story begins with the main characters hovering over a dead body — that of the newly deceased Pope — how exactly the Pontiff met his end doesn’t figure into the primary plot…