Conclave
So I did go to see Conclave. As a cultural phenomenon it shows, like Nanni Moretti’s Habemus Papam from 2011 (a much cleverer film), the fascination exercised by Catholic rituals and processes on a world professing indifference to religion. The photography is good. The script is flat. The characters lack depth. The allegiance to stereotypes is heroic. I didn’t find the film offensive; it isn’t interesting enough to offend. If I left the cinema feeling dejected, it was for another reason: Edward Berger’s effort shows how sterile talk of religion becomes when faith is absent from it. Dan Hitchens has suggested, in a thoughtful review, that Conclave points beyond itself. I fear my response is more hopeless. I found the film leaden, with no intimation of flight. It is an implicit exposé of the third commandment, for what happens when the name of the Lord is taken in vain is not necessarily blasphemy but pointlessness.
