“Election season is not for the weak.”
Even this statement in the Telluride Film Festival program last fall couldn’t have guessed how directly German director Edward Berger’s stunning papal thriller “Conclave” would tackle our then-ongoing election season.
The start of Berger’s eight-Oscar-nominee sees the sudden death of its fictional pope, with Ralph Fiennes’ Cardinal Lawrence leading the democratic proceedings to appoint a replacement. Five months ago, in a different America with President Biden in the White House, Telluride attendees leaned into the film’s world of Vatican scandals, as open-minded papal contenders opposed bigotry, and even feminism and a refreshingly liberal celebration of non-binary gender identity entered the film’s
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