Film: Conclave
Last Thursday, back with Movie Roadhouse London for Conclave, starring Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, and John Lithgow as cardinals involved in the election of a new pope. Isabella Rossellini shows up as a nun. Shenanigans were promised. Our organiser chose the Vue West End.. whose showing was very late! Still, it gave me the chance to stay on late in the office - always a good look.
There is a limit to how late I can stay in the office - they lock it at 7: or, as another late-stayer warned me, slightly before. So I made sure to escape before being locked in. I exited to a miserable evening - a lot warmer than recently, but it was pouring rain! Well, it's walking distance from there - so I walked. Now, as usual for there, I wanted to eat in the adjacent Bella Italia - but I'd been unable to secure a booking! Still, they take walkins, so I said I'd try - and of course, they did have a couple of tables free. More outside, but nobody was sitting out there, with the rain blowing in under the umbrellas. So I took one in the middle of the restaurant, where I normally sit.
I'd just ordered, and lo, who should happen in but the organiser, looking for somewhere to eat and remembering my recommendation! So he joined me, and we chatted as we ate. It's nearly a month since I was last here.. I'd missed my garlic fest! (They serve garlic pouring butter with the dishes I have.) As I remarked to him, I usually check my phone to see when he arrives.. I didn't have to, this time..
When we'd finished, we hopped next door to the cinema. We intended to head up to the bar - showed our tickets to the guy on the desk, who informed us that the bar was closed for an event. Hmm. So, we hung around the lobby for a bit. I needed the loo, so headed downstairs - oh man, the toilets were as filthy as any I've seen! As I was coming out, I said it to a guy standing there with a roll of toilet paper - "yeah, yeah" was the response. Sure enough, when I went again, after the film, they were every bit as filthy.. you have been warned..
Back in the lobby, I decided to get a glass of wine. Again, the lady asked to look at my ticket.. just like the first guy we spoke to, both she and her supervisor remarked that it was very early! In this case, too early for them to serve me alcohol - I asked how late it had to be before they could, and they informed me that I could buy it 15 minutes before the scheduled showtime! Meantime, however, our organiser had asked to speak to the manager, who checked and informed us that the event in the bar had finished. So we repaired up there instead - where they had no problem serving me. And there the group convened, and we had a lovely chat before we went in. Now, in the course of this, the bar staff disappeared - so our organiser took it upon himself to go down and get drinks from the lobby (now serving) for a couple of us! Generous to a fault - thanks Jonny! Well done also on carrying them all upstairs..
And so to the film. Interestingly, afterwards, when the group was rating it, we gave it everything from 1 to 10! I don't think I've ever before seen the full range. It begins with the deathbed scene of the previous pope, sundry cardinals gathered around - and from then on, we are restricted to the Vatican, the cardinals sequestered until they elect a new pope.
It looks sumptuous - marble everywhere, and the chamber where they do the voting has spectacular artwork on the ceiling. Some gorgeous camera work also makes the most of the red cassocks, the flock of cardinals gathered together. They wear some expensive-looking crucifixes..
So, the plot concerns the undercurrent of events - which they, being sequestered, aren't supposed to know anything about, even when new information comes to light. However, they have a dean - Ralph Fiennes - with a nose for getting to the bottom of things, and a passion for the truth. Honestly, he's one of the most sincere and selfless of the cardinals! In this assembled group of men, as you'd expect, all sorts of characters are present - and not all are exactly pure and innocent. Again, as you'd expect, we come across greed, ambition, the undermining of opponents - not to mention past transgressions coming to light. And then there's the mysterious and deferential cardinal, appointed at the last minute by the outgoing pope, and whose dioceses have always been in war zones..
What the film also is, is an interesting examination of the modern-day Church. We have everything from the traditional cardinal, longing for the old days, before all these liberal changes, when there were Italian popes: through cardinals who transgress, cardinals who want to modernise - and when the modern world, despite the sequestration of the cardinals, makes its presence felt in a way they can't ignore.. how will they deal with it? The ultimate choice of pope - and we're kept waiting till the last minute to find that out - raises some interesting points in how the Church is to deal with the problems of the modern day. And by the way, even when the pope is chosen, there's one final twist that tests even the pure-hearted dean..
Not for everyone, as I say - perhaps not enough action for some, perhaps others just weren't interested in the subject matter. I loved it, as a gentle examination of a powerful and secretive institution.
Also great to see the group, on what was my last Meetup with them for the year.
Currently back in Ireland for the weekend - although I was lucky to get on an earlier Stansted Express than I thought I'd need - they were all terribly delayed, and had I waited for the one I'd planned to get, I might have been tight on time!
And as my cabbie said, it's as well my flight didn't get in any later.. with Storm Darragh on the way, even the pubs were closing early!
All the films on for the weekend (that aren't Conclave) are either ones I've seen, or don't want to see, or are on too late - so, another quiet weekend for me.
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