Peter Bart: Indies Put Their Faith In Older Demos For Serious Fare Like ‘Conclave’
deadline.com“The best antidote for a bad election is a good movie,” Richard M. Nixon once proclaimed, and for many filmgoers this week Conclave helped blot out the political noise.
A papal thriller with a shock ending, Conclave’s impact (it’s a film, not a streaming movie) again raises the question of whether serious adult fare can again command a strong market niche.
The setting of Conclave is itself a departure: The Pope is dead. The Vatican’s prayerfully powerful College of Cardinals is locked in its sanctorum, weathering intrigues about a potential new leader.
Directed by Edward Berger (All Quiet on the Western Front), a regally robed cardinal, Ralph Fiennes, struggles to sustain calm in the face of sexual and political challenges raised by Stanley Tucci and John Lithgow, among others.
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