Art has imitated life plenty of times at the Academy Awards but perhaps not quite as literally as it has for best picture nominee Conclave.
Little did Ralph Fiennes and his co-stars know when they began filming in Rome two years ago, how real-world events would transpire to make the basic premise of this best picture nominee feel bizarrely prescient.
This weekend, while the film industry comes together to recognise the great and the good in Hollywood, on the other side of the world cardinals have been gathering in Vatican City over concerns for the Pope’s health.
As one of its stars, John Lithgow, told reporters on the SAG Awards red carpet: “The film has ended up extremely timely.”
While statistically winners are more likely to thank their agent or Steven Spielberg than God in their speeches, on-screen it’s a different story this year. Films exploring issues around faith are unusually well represented.
Perhaps most overtly through Conclave’s Machiavellian cardinals but it’s also explored in The Brutalist. We see the emotional toll on Adrien Brody’s Jewish architect character when commissioned to build a Christian place of worship.
Jesse Eissenberg’s A Real Pain shows the changing role of faith plays for younger generations processing the Holocaust.
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As entertainment journalist Ronse Esangbedo explains: “Religious films have had success at the Oscars but we don’t see it often.
“I think people are yearning for more diversity of style of genre and we’re seeing that more with each award show.”
Cynically while some might assume a renewed focus on events in Rome might put Conclave at a bit of an unfair advantage, in reality given that the voting deadline was 18 February – over a week before doctors said the Pope was in a critical but stable condition – it won’t have swayed which film wins.
While the Catholic Church arguably has greater concerns than whether a fictional take on the closed-door process of appointing a new pontiff wins an award, certainly the timing must be an irritant.
To those who view the story as anti-Catholic propaganda, speaking at the end of last year, Fiennes insisted it isn’t a “facile takedown” of Catholicism.
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The best actor nominee told Sky News that for “all churches but particularly the Catholic Church, the history… is full of very worldly motivations.
“There’s obviously corruption… there’s all kinds of transgressions that we know that have taken place… I think it’s a big thing to open up and discuss.”
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While Robert Harris’ works have been translated into 40 languages – the popularity of Conclave in particular speaks to our fascination with a process we know so little about.
Fiennes insists it’s “human” how the cardinals in his film are seen positioning themselves for the top role.
“They’re full of pride, ambition, things they’ve kept hidden and I think that’s what’s great [this film] is not cynical and that’s what drew me to it.”
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Win or lose this weekend in Hollywood, Isabella Rossellini – who’s nominated for best supporting actress for her brief role in the film – has been at pains to send her best wishes to Rome.
“We are very, very worried for our Pope,” she told reporters at the SAG Awards virtual press room.
“We love this pope – Papa Francesco, Pope Francis. We wish him well. We wish him to recover.”
