A thriller about electing a pope draws crowds at the Rome Film Festival near the Vatican
With Pope Francis a few weeks away from his 88th birthday, the plotting for his successor is well underway at the Vatican
ROME (AP) — With Pope Francis a few weeks away from his 88th birthday, the plotting for his successor is well underway at the Vatican.
How timely, then, that just across town in Rome, “ Conclave ” a thriller filled with back-stabbing, manipulative cardinals, quick to toss morality out of the window as they promote their candidate, is a top draw at the Rome Film Festival.
This might be a little too close to home — literally and figuratively — for Pope Francis.
Austrian-Swiss Director Edward Berger, who directed “All Quiet on the Western Front” (2022), adapted the film from the 2016 novel “Conclave” by Robert Harris. Berger puts an extraordinary Ralph Fiennes in the role of Cardinal Thomas Lawrence, dean of the College of Cardinals responsible for organizing the conclave.
