Conclave

Novel by Richard Harris (2018). Film by Edward Berger (2024).

Conclave is the first film I've ever seen that depicts someone Like Me in a particular way (if you've watched it then you'll know).

See also: Satyr's review.

“Perhaps it is my difference that will make me more useful. I think again of your sermon. I know what it is to exist between the world's certainties.”

film awards won

click for list️

• AACTA International Awards (7 February 2025) - Best Actor (Ralph Fiennes)
• Academy Awards (2 March 2025) - Best Adapted Screenplay
• Alliance of Women Film Journalists (7 January 2025) - Best Actress in a Supporting Role
• Alliance of Women Film Journalists (7 January 2025) - Best Adapted Screenplay
• Alliance of Women Film Journalists (7 January 2025) - Best Ensemble Cast and Casting Director
• British Academy Film Awards (16 February 2025) - Best Film
• British Academy Film Awards (16 February 2025) - Best Adapted Screenplay
• British Academy Film Awards (16 February 2025) - Best Editing
• British Academy Film Awards (16 February 2025) - Outstanding British Film
• Costume Designers Guild Awards (6 February 2025) - Excellence in Contemporary Film
• Critics' Choice Movie Awards (7 February 2025) - Best Acting Ensemble
• Critics' Choice Movie Awards (7 February 2025) - Best Adapted Screenplay
• Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics Association (18 December 2024) - Best Actor
• Florida Film Critics Circle (20 December 2024) - Best Ensemble
• Golden Globe Awards (5 January 2025) - Best Screenplay
• London Film Critics' Circle Awards (2 February 2025) - British or Irish Film of the Year
• London Film Critics' Circle Awards (2 February 2025) - Actor of the Year
• Mill Valley Film Festival (16 October 2024) - Audience Overall Favorite
• National Board of Review (4 December 2024) - Top 10 Films
• National Board of Review (4 December 2024) - Best Ensemble
• New York Film Critics Online (16 December 2024) - Best Ensemble
• Online Film Critics Society (27 January 2025) - Best Actor
• Online Film Critics Society (27 January 2025) - Best Adapted Screenplay
• San Diego International Film Festival (20 October 2024) - Best Gala Film
• Screen Actors Guild Awards (23 February 2025) - Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
• Set Decorators Society of America (7 February 2025) - Best Achievement in Décor/Design of a Contemporary Feature Film
• St. Louis Film Critics Association (15 December 2024) - Best Adapted Screenplay
• St. Louis Film Critics Association (15 December 2024) - Best Ensemble
• USC Scripter Awards (February 22, 2025) - Best Adapted Screenplay
• Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association (8 December 2024) - Best Adapted Screenplay
• Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association (8 December 2024) - Best Acting Ensemble

Conclave videos I've made

(Warning: youtube links!)

• Conclave (2024) | Big God
• Conclave (2024) | Church In The Wild
• Lawrenítez | Like A Prayer [choral version]
• thomas lawrence | you want it darker
• vincent benítez | i don't need a cure
• vincent benítez | life on land

Conclave fics I've published

(AO3 links)

• a hug (115 words)
• a kind prisoner: Aldo Bellini hasn't gotten the measure of Innocent yet, but he decides to stay in the Holy See and find out who he is. (333 words)
• a stumbling block: An intersex nun in the Vatican has an encounter with the new Pope. (572 words)
• anything long enough and the body: There are, on occasion, advantages to having friends somewhat younger than yourself. (134 words)
• bad day: He wakes up and he knows immediately that it's going to be a long day and a bad day. (627 words)
• hoc est enim corpus meum: This is my body. (212 words)
• in every one of us shines the light of love: In the run-up to the feast day of Saint Valentine, a Swiss Guard asks to wear flowers, Sister Agnes makes a move, and Aldo Bellini patiently tells his best friend that the Pope returns his affections. Whatever will the sermon be about? (1,457 words)
• I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made: This specific aspect of trouble had started, as many did, by Monsignor Ray O’Malley approaching him. Lomeli seeks out the new Holy Father, concerned for him. (921 words, incomplete)
• no ascetic: Vincent makes a deal with Jacopo - he will allow himself to be looked at by doctors if Jacopo will let him fuss about his health, as well. (1.6k words)
• plaster and glass: The tremble earlier, low like an earthquake, had Vincent on edge, waiting for something closer. The explosion in the Sistine chapel itself was, technically, a shock, but it was not a surprise. A blend of some of the explosion scene from the book into a missing scene left by the movie. (730 words)

tumblr text posts collection

frederick-the-great: Love how Vincent Benítez showed up at the Conclave and within five minutes said, Hello! :) I'm here to remind you all of the preferential option for the poor. Also these women have just fed you. Thank them.

innocentiusxiv: benitez is literally everything to me. he has ptsd. he's always smiling. he names himself after the virtue of innocence. he has the crown of thorns. he's the archbishop of kabul. he's even intersex.

emjee: Thinking about how the main character of Conclave is a man with doubts who is not enjoying himself and his name is Thomas Lawrence which in terms of saints translates to Man With Doubt Being Roasted Alive. It’s so on the nose and I absolutely love it and wouldn’t change it for the world.

crashout-cain: Lomeli is so funny bc he's constantly on guard against pride so he never wants to be disrespectful or uncharitable to anyone, but you can tell that under the surface, in the place before feelings become fully-formed thoughts, he's always this 🤏🏻 close to calling any one of his high-ranking colleagues an insufferable jackass. Working with Tremblay is his actual greatest trial

fluentisonus: the thing is I am still thinking about that bit in conclave right before they're about to vote when the breath of wind & birdsong comes in through the window that had recently been violently blown in to let the light and air into what has til then been a suffocatingly still & sterile & dark & enclosed environment & it ruffles all the pages on the desks & they all pause and look up. like oh god is there

queer-benoit-blanc: Thinking about Conclave book Benitez, who didn't have an appendectomy, but got injured by a car bomb and had to be operated on, at which point he found out about his uterus. Who recognises the explosion in Rome as a car bomb and tells Lomeli (Lawrence).
A sudden journey of self-acceptance and reorientating himself within his faith, kickstarted by the same violence that ultimately sees him elected Pope.
It makes the decision to be called Innocent feel that bit more defiant.

maester-of-spreadsheets: Other stuff from the Conclave book that I wish was in the movie:

• when everyone is taking turns yelling at Lawrence in the burn book scene, Benitez is like “omg how you holding up your eminence? my ethical king?” and makes sure he has coffee and food lol
• Lawrence falling asleep during a round of voting and Bellini passing him a note making fun of him via a quote from scripture lol