“It would be nice if the Pope saw ‘Conclave’.” And what would he say? “I don’t let myself get inside his head.” Thus Sergio Castellitto on the red carpet of ‘Conclave’, presented today at the Rome Film Festival. From Oscar-winning director Edward Berger, the film transports the viewer into one of the most mysterious and secret events in the world: the election of a new Pope. After the sudden death of the beloved and late Pope, Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) is responsible for directing this delicate process. Once the most powerful leaders of the Catholic Church gather and lock themselves in the secret halls of the Vatican, Lawrence finds himself trapped in a web of intrigue, betrayal and power plays. A dark secret comes to light, threatening to shake the very foundations of the Church.
“The greatest sin of our time is often a certain tendency to turn away when we see pain or watch the news that tell us terrifying events and try to anesthetize us,” says Castellitto. For Fiennes “wherever there is drama in the world, we are in a difficult historical moment”.