After bursting into the mainstream with his Oscar-winning Netflix hit adaptation of “All Quiet on the Western Front,” Edward Berger is back with “Conclave,” a tense political thriller premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival. While not without its challenges like any other film, Berger said at TheWrap’s 2024 TIFF Studio sponsored by Moët & Chandon and Boss Design that there was one big difference between “Conclave” and “Western Front”: this time he got to shoot in Rome.
“I definitely didn’t want to go to the mud again,” he admitted. “We went to the freezing cold for the first movie. I thought I owe my crew a nice location and go to Rome with them. So we spent the summer, the winter in Rome, which was lovely. It’s literally the best place to shoot.”
“Conclave” stars Ralph Fiennes as Cardinal Lawrence, who has been tasked with overseeing the conclave at the Vatican to select the next Pope of the Catholic Church. But as the cardinals gather, Lawrence uncovers a dark secret that had been discovered by the previous Pope, one that could have played a factor in his death and could be part of a greater conspiracy.
Fitting of the patriarchal nature of the Church, “Conclave” is a film whose story is largely driven by men. The one major exception is Isabella Rossellini, who plays Sister Agnes, a nun who will not be silent in the face of wrongdoing.
Rossellini says she was so impressed with how Berger shot the film, using the camera to show the power structure of the Church. She pointed out one scene early in the film where the cardinals and nuns arrive for the conclave. The cardinals, dressed in red, move freely about the courtyard, while the sisters, dressed in blue, appear completely subservient.
“Just the way you photographed us with the cardinals talking to one another, moving freely and us looking down, just shadows, serving,” she told Berger. “And I thought that was so powerful. And he gave me completely the idea of who the character was, because she’s not submissive, but it is the role and the vow she has taken of modesty and silence.”
While fictional, “Conclave” doesn’t paint the Catholic Church in a flattering light, so many of the prime shooting locations in Rome were closed off to them because they were owned by the Church. Others were prohibitively expensive.
“I definitely had many more locations than on ‘All Quiet on the Western Front,’” he said. “Every room was shot in a different place, just to try to piece together the, sort of the overall impression of the Vatican. Because obviously you can’t shoot behind those closed walls. There’s a big line on St Peter’s Square. And what that line means beyond this point, no cameras, so everything else you have to imagine and piece together.”
“Conclave” will be released in select theaters by Focus Features on November 1 and nationwide on November 8.
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