Film

Conclave

Name: Conclave
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Released: 2024
Cast: Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow, Isabella Rossellini, Lucian Msamati

Conspiracy thriller

A tense procedural thriller set during a papal conclave, where Cardinal Lawrence navigates Vatican politics, ancient ritual, and a widening conspiracy as the world waits for a new Pope. Fiennes is superb—controlled, intelligent, watchful. It's a smart film for adults who enjoy plot puzzles and the kind of drama that builds through conversation and revelation rather than spectacle.

TMDb rating

3.6

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy tightly plotted political chamber pieces where the pleasure lies in watching careful men with private agendas circle one another over whispered lunches and hidden ballots.

Skip it if you want action, sweeping locations or a fast pulse; this is mostly talk in corridors and closed rooms, and its suspense builds through conversation rather than set pieces.

What it asks of you: Two hours of sustained attention to dialogue and faces, with a slow, deliberate build and a tone that stays cool and measured rather than loud or emotional.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

All the President's Men1976

Two reporters unpeel a conspiracy at the heart of power through dogged investigation and careful source work. The same architecture as Conclave: revelation through process, stakes that grow quietly, the institutional machine under pressure.

But Slow by modern standards, heavy on dialogue, no action sequences. If you need movement on screen to stay engaged, this will test you.

Spotlight2015

Journalists at The Boston Globe methodically expose abuse within the Catholic Church itself. The same quiet intensity, the same satisfaction of watching intelligent people do careful work under institutional pressure.

But Deliberately paced. The drama is in the process, not in plot twists or confrontation. Some find it dutiful rather than gripping.

The Queen2006

Helen Mirren as Elizabeth navigates protocol, duty, and public expectation in the aftermath of Diana's death. Like Conclave, it's about power operating within strict formal rules, and what happens when those rules collide with human reality.

But Largely interior—conversations, reckonings, small gestures. If you came for pageantry or spectacle, you'll be disappointed. The film is about restraint.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Conclave

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Name of the Rose1986

Both are mysteries solved through careful reading of institutional history and the motives of men invested in preserving power through secrecy. Both are about what happens when knowledge is weaponized within a closed world.

Sean Connery as a Franciscan monk investigates a series of murders in a medieval monastery. Intellectually rigorous, beautifully composed, obsessed with how institutions hide knowledge and control belief. Conclave in a monastery, with murder and semiotics.

But Deeply concerned with medieval theology and heresy. If that sounds tedious rather than fascinating, the film's pace and length will feel forbidding. Some scenes drag.

The Post2017

Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks navigate a constitutional crisis unfolding in real time at The Washington Post. The same feeling of intelligent people making high-stakes decisions under pressure, weighing principle against consequence.

But Spielberg's hand is visible, which means it can feel a touch ceremonial. Some find the moral clarity too easy, the stakes too well-resolved by the end.

A Prophet2009

A young man imprisoned navigates an opaque system of power, politics, and alliances within prison walls. The architecture is similar: confined space, rigid hierarchies, slow revelation of who holds real power and why.

But Brutal and unsparing in ways Conclave isn't. If you want your thriller tense but civil, this will feel rawer than you bargained for.

The Constant Gardener2005

A widower pursues his wife's investigation into pharmaceutical corruption in Africa. Fernando Meirelles directs with the same eye for institutional rot, moral compromise, and the cost of seeking truth in a rigged system.

But Structured as a mystery with tragedy already known. Some find the emotional weight overpowers the thriller mechanics; it's not puzzle-first.

Three Days of the Condor1975

Robert Redford as a CIA analyst caught between institutions, conspiracy, and his own confusion about whom to trust. Smart espionage thriller about systems protecting themselves—recognizably the ancestor of Conclave's world.

But The 70s surface can feel dated. The ending is deliberately ambiguous in ways that used to work better than they do now. You have to meet it halfway.

Michael Clayton2007

George Clooney as a fixer navigates corporate corruption, institutional loyalty, and his own conscience. Taut, intelligent, with the same slow-burn intensity and the same investment in watching someone maneuver within a broken system.

But Very procedural, very New York legal machinery. If you find corporate drama inherently dull, no amount of craft will convert you.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy2011

Gary Oldman as Le Carré's George Smiley, moving through Cold War espionage with glacial patience. Rewards close attention and trust in its own intelligence. The same aesthetic: restraint, implication, the pleasure of watching a superior mind work.

But Deliberately opaque. It does not hold your hand. If you need constant exposition and clear throughlines, you will find it frustrating.

A Ghost Story2017

Both films are unusually concerned with legacy and the machinery of succession—what we leave behind, how institutions replace us, what endures. Both move at the speed of observation rather than incident.

David Lowery's haunting, formally inventive film about time, grief, and legacy. A man returns as a ghost to observe the house and life he left behind. Quieter and stranger than Conclave, but shares its meditation on duty, the weight of institutions, and what persists after we're gone.

But Experimental and oblique. Contains a five-minute monologue about the entropy of human civilization. If you want plot momentum and conventional narrative, this will feel precious and slow.

The Handmaiden2016

Both are puzzles about who actually has power and what they're willing to do to keep it. Both operate through misdirection and the gradual reveal of hidden information. But where Conclave is sober, this is sensual and baroque—same engine, completely different fuel.

Park Chan-wook's intricate con-film set in 1930s Manchuria, Japan, and Korea. Multiple double-crosses, gorgeous cinematography, and a narrative structure that rewards rereading. A complete genre reversal—pure pleasure and spectacle where Conclave is austere and procedural—but built on the same foundation of hidden information and unreliable surfaces.

But Sexually explicit. Some find the elaborate plot mechanics more clever than moving. The tonal whiplash between romance, thriller, and erotica bothers some viewers.