Ralph Fiennes in Edward Berger's tense drama The Pope

Director Edward Berger, who has made one of the best films of 2022 with a vivid adaptation of All Quiet on the Western Frontshifts gears in a gratifying way, moving to a film set almost entirely inside the Vatican. Conclavebased on the popular novel by Robert Harris, demonstrates Berger's versatility and also offers one of the best roles of his career to Ralph Fiennes, supported by an expert cast.

The recent Oscar nominated film The Two Popes also took us inside the Vatican to examine the true story of the rise of Pope Francis (played by Jonathan Pryce). That was essentially a docudrama, while this film is pure fictional speculation about the behind-the-scenes machinations involved in choosing a new pope after the death of the previous pontiff. Fiennes plays the Dean of the College of Cardinals, who is charged with overseeing the election.

Screenwriter Peter Straughan (The mole soldier spy) keeps the story moving quickly. A series of intriguing characters support Fiennes's Cardinal Lawrence. He feels a close bond with an American cardinal, played charmingly by Stanley Tucci. Both men are suspicious of John Lithgow's Canadian cardinal, who is feverishly campaigning to become the next pope, but who seems motivated more by personal ambition than by humanitarian or spiritual impulses.

One surprising candidate is a Nigerian cardinal, played by Lucian Msamati, and many in the Vatican see a possibility in electing the first African pope. But there are other, more conservative cardinals like the Italian candidate, played by Sergio Castellito, who will do almost anything to prevent this careerist from dismantling the European hierarchy.

And then there's a mysterious newcomer from Kabul, played by Carlos Diehz. None of the cardinals even knew about the existence of this priest, who was apparently invited to Rome by the former pope before his death. And many of them are wary of a Catholic priest from a predominantly Muslim part of the world. Old prejudices die hard.

As the power games intensify, a nun played by Isabella Rossellini is revealed to have a major role in challenging the male hierarchy of the Catholic Church. The film raises timely questions about sexual and racist prejudice within organized religion, while also acknowledging the sex scandals that have rocked the Church in recent years.

Fiennes gives a superb performance as a man who begins to have doubts about his faith because of all these scandals, and when he emerges as a leading contender to be Pope, his crisis of conscience intensifies. We can see that he may be the most qualified candidate, partly because of these carefully articulated doubts, but he may not have the stomach for the job.

Berger does a great job of controlling all these performances and also creates a rich atmosphere for the production. The Sistine Chapel and other parts of the Vatican were reconstructed at Cinecittà Studios, brought to life by cinematographer Stephane Fontaine and production designer Suzie Davies. While the elegant, claustrophobic world of the Vatican is captured invitingly, a more violent world intrudes when a terrorist attack in Rome comes too close for comfort. Editor Nick Emerson keeps the action moving. Composer Volker Bertelmann, who won an Oscar for his score for All Quiet on the Western FrontHere he demonstrates his competence and versatility in the work he does.

Even viewers who might guess the identity of the next pope will be surprised by the final twist, which is very much in line with the film's ambition to transfer the certainties of the past into a new, unpredictable, dizzying but essential future.