Spoiler Warning: The following article contains major spoilers for the Conclave ending. If you’ve yet to watch the papal thriller, please watch it streaming with a Peacock subscription and then come back.
Edward Berger’s Conclave, one of the best movies of 2024, was a theatrical experience I don’t think I’ll ever forget. Watching with a crowd of people as a group of 100-plus cardinals gathers in the Sistine Chapel to elect a new pope after the leader of the Catholic church passes away was powerful, thrilling, and astonishing, especially when the big twist ending left the room in a state of shocked silence akin to Avengers: Infinity War.
However, I recently went back and watched the Golden Globe-winning drama a second time (I guarantee more will follow), and I have to admit that I liked it even more upon this subsequent viewing, as crazy as that sounds. Knowing how the movie ended didn’t take away from my experience; in fact, it actually made for a better experience.
Let me explain… But before I do, SPOILER ALERT — heed my warning and don’t proceed unless you’ve seen one of the best thrillers of 2024 or don’t care if the Conclave ending is spoiled for you.
Don’t Get Me Wrong, I Loved The Conclave Ending And How It Was Executed
There are probably a lot of people out there who don’t care for the Conclave ending or are offended by the fact that an intersex person would be elected to the papacy. However, I’m not in that camp. I loved the reveal that Cardinal Benitez (Carlos Diehz) was assigned male at birth only to discover much later in life that he had a uterus and ovaries, and I loved Cardinal Lawrence’s (Ralph Fiennes) decision to not reveal this to the other cardinals and the rest of the church after the election.
Everything about the final 10 or so minutes of the movie is perfect, and the execution of the big plot twist (all its teases, all the intrigue, and the response) was pulled off masterfully. I say all of this because I don’t want there to be any misconceptions about my thoughts on the ending or lead you to believe that I was offended by it.
With that out of the way, let’s begin…
I Was So Distracted Thinking About The Possible Twist That I Ended Up Missing Much Of The Movie’s Nuance
I didn’t know how Conclave was going to end, but upon reading early buzz about the film leading up to its release, I knew that there was going to be some kind of twist ending before it was all said and done. That said, I spent the entire two-hour runtime trying to figure out how the movie would end and what would be the twist. Did one of the cardinals kill the pope? Was the conclave going to be upended by the terrorist attacks teased throughout the movie? Would Isabella Rossellini’s Sister Agnes get to do more than angrily type on computers and pray?
I was so distracted trying to figure out the movie that I lost the forest for the trees. All the little nuances, subtle gestures, seemingly insignificant yet powerful conversations, I either missed them entirely or blocked them out because I was so obsessed with making sense of a twist ending that hadn’t happened yet.
Knowing How Conclave Ends, My Second Viewing Was A Much More Profound Experience
Watching Conclave the second time around was a much more profound experience, which is to be expected. I mean, this happens all the time when you rewatch movies, but few have come close to how much more I liked Edward Berger’s follow-up to All Quiet on the Western Front the second time around.
There are just so many scenes that I was able to enjoy this time around now that the suspense was gone. For example, the hushed meetings between the more liberal cardinals trying to figure out how to get Cardinal Bellini (Stanley Tucci) to a majority vote led to some of my favorite moments in the film. The emotional and heartbreaking prayer shared by Lawrence and Cardinal Adeyemi (Lucian Msamati) where the former tells the latter he won’t be pope was more powerful than before. And then the final shot of the laughing nuns leaving the conclave while Lawrence brings a turtle back to the Vatican garden just sent me over.
Dean Lawrence’s Homily At The Start Of The Conclave Resonated So Much More The Second Time Around
I completely forgot about Dean Lawrence’s powerful homily at the start of the conclave until I watched the movie a second time, and this scene alone made the rewatch worth it. Tasked with leading the election to elect the new pope, and by virtue, the direction of the church, Lawrence is having a crisis of faith (he wished to resign before the former pope suddenly passed), and that can be felt in his commentary about tolerance, certainty, and the mystery of faith:
Our faith is a living thing precisely because it walks hand in hand with doubt. If there was only certainty and no doubt, there would be no mystery, and therefore no need for faith.
The final two minutes of the homily are full of great words of wisdom, hope, and reassurance, and I’m so glad I went back and revisited what I admit was one of the best movie speeches of 2024.
In Fact, I Have A Greater Appreciation For Peter Straughan’s Powerful Screenplay
After watching Conclave a second time, I have a great appreciation for for Peter Straughan, the screenwriter who won a Golden Globe for his adaptation of Robert Harris’ 2016 novel of the same name. I was amazed by just how much the British playwright and screenwriter behind Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and Frank was able to get so much into a two-hour movie without it feeling crammed or rushed. No page, no line, no word is wasted here, and it’s a testament of both Straughan’s economy of words and the nuance of his pen.
I Was Also Able To Sit Back And Marvel At All The Movie’s Mesmerizing Shots
On top of Edward Berger’s direction and Peter Straughan’s words, Conclave features some amazing cinematography thanks to director of photography Stéphane Fontaine. Pretty much every scene is beautifully lit, composed, and shot, at times creating scenes that look more like pieces of art in the Vatican museum than a movie on a screen.
I remember loving the shots of the cardinals arriving before the conclave, those of them walking in the rain with umbrellas protecting them from the deluge, and those of the candidates after each vote, but being able to sit back and relax the second time around made them even better. And I’m sure it’ll be better a third time, which is happening soon.
Overall, watching Conclave a second time was an even greater experience than the first time, which I think is a telltale sign of a good movie. Now I can’t wait to see how it fares at the upcoming awards shows in the coming weeks and months..