On Monday, the world learned of the death of Pope Francis, a seismic moment for the Catholic Church and the start of a period of mourning that will culminate in the gathering of cardinals to elect the next leader of the more than 1 billion Catholics worldwide. And now, just a day later, Conclave — a critically acclaimed 2024 drama about that very process, from Focus Features and starring Ralph Fiennes — has begun streaming on Prime Video.
You couldn’t script a more dramatic coincidence.
Directed by Edward Berger (All Quiet on the Western Front), Conclave is a taut, dialogue-driven thriller set inside the opaque, tradition-laden ritual of the papal election. Fiennes plays Cardinal Lawrence, who’s tasked with overseeing the conclave and who soon uncovers a secret that could alter the very course of the Church.
The movie, based on the bestselling Robert Harris novel of the same name, is full of hushed corridors, whispered power plays, and the kind of moral suspense you’d expect from a story that unfolds in the Sistine Chapel. It all feels eerily relevant right now, following the death of the 88-year-old 266th pope on Easter Monday, and that’s because at this exact moment, real-world cardinals are making their way to Rome, preparing to do exactly what Berger’s movie dramatizes: Elect a new head of the Catholic Church.
It’s a convergence of life and art that adds another layer of gravitas to Conclave. Whether you’re religious or not, the film is a powerful look at how legacy, secrecy, and belief collide when the stakes couldn’t be higher. As the world prepares to say goodbye to one pope and welcome another, Conclave offers a glimpse at the drama playing out behind closed doors. It also has a near-perfect 93% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes as of this writing, with the UK’s Sunday Times noting of the movie:
“The film, which is by far the best adaptation of Harris’s work to date — brisk, smart, and propulsively plotted — is basically 12 Angry Men with incense and some Latin argumentation.”
