Conclave

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Short takes

Not suitable under 11; parental guidance to 12 (themes, lack of interest for younger viewers)

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This topic contains:

  • overall comments and recommendations
  • details of classification and consumer advice lines for Conclave
  • a review of Conclave completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 14 January 2025.

Overall comments and recommendations

Children under 11 Not suitable due to themes and lack of interest.
Children aged 11–12 Parental guidance recommended due to themes and lack of interest.
Children aged 13 and over Ok for this age group.

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.

Name of movie: Conclave
Classification: PG
Consumer advice lines: Mild themes
Length: 120 minutes

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

A synopsis of the story

The Pope has died and it falls on Cardinal Thomas Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes), as dean, to organise the conclave to elect the new pope. There are four main contenders for the position: Cardinal Tremblay (John Lithgow), a moderate; Cardinal Tedesco (Sergio Castellitto), a rigid traditionalist; Cardinal Bellini (Stanley Tucci), a liberal; and Cardinal Adeyemi (Lucian Msamati), also quite traditional in some respects. A late entrant into the mix is Cardinal Benitez (Carlos Diehz), a recently appointed cardinal from Kabul.

There is much political intrigue, conniving and conspiracy involved, which Lawrence tries to uncover. It seems that Tremblay was recently asked to resign by the former pope for gross misconduct. Tremblay denies this but is found to have used bribery to gain the top position. He also invited a nun from Nigeria, Sister Shanumi (Balkissa Maiga), in order to expose an affair she had with Adeyemi, which resulted in the birth of a son. Sister Agnes (Isabella Rossellini) does her best to keep this secret but Lawrence eventually discovers it. Another mystery is why the Pope had paid for Benitez to attend a clinic in Switzerland, an appointment he didn’t keep. The final result reveals the surprising twist in the plot.

Themesinfo

Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.

Conspiracy; The Catholic Church; Illicit affairs; Intersex; Sexual scandals; Religious intolerance.

Use of violenceinfo

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

There is a little violence in this movie, including:

  • Mention is made of a car bomb exploding on the streets of Rome.
  • During a ballot, an explosion is felt in the hall, smoke pours through the chimney and Lawrence is knocked to the ground. It was caused by a person with explosives strapped to his body and killed hundreds of people.
  • Tedesco berates Islam and says he’s ashamed that Italy has tolerated it. He says that a leader is needed who ‘will fight these animals’.
  • Some high tension arguments amongst the cardinals.

Material that may scare or disturb children

Under fiveinfo

Children under five are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations.

  • Nothing particularly scary for this age group.

Aged five to eightinfo

Children aged five to eight will also be frightened by scary visual images and will also be disturbed by depictions of the death of a parent, a child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes and scary visual images, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged five to eight, including the following:

  • The Pope is seen lying dead on his bed. His body is wrapped in a body bag and is wheeled out on a gurney.

Aged eight to thirteeninfo

Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged eight to thirteen, including the following:

  • There is talk of popes who have ignored the sexual abuse of children.

Thirteen and overinfo

Children over the age of thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic physical harm or threats, molestation or sexual assault and / or threats from aliens or the occult.

  • Talk of a man being intersex and not finding out until he was in his 30’s when he had a routine operation.

Product placement

  • None noted.

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie, including:

  • Adeyemi was 39 and Shanumi was 19 when they had an affair. She gave birth to a son who she gave up for adoption.

Nudity and sexual activity

  • None noted.

Use of substances

There is some use of substances in this movie, including:

  • Several of the cardinals smoke.
  • Wine is drunk with dinner.

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

  • God no.

In a nutshell

Conclave is an insight into what goes on during a conclave, when cardinals are sequestered while choosing the new pope. The film has all of the intrigue, melodrama and conspiracy plots of a general election, with an unexpected and uplifting twist at the end. Due to its themes and intensity, Conclave is more suited to teens and adults, and will likely hold little interest for children.

The main messages from this movie are that it’s more important to have a good, honest heart than to be merely ambitious; and that goodness triumphs over self-interest.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

  • Honesty
  • Hope
  • The power of love
  • Not to give in to hate.

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as:

  • That wrongdoings will always be found out.
  • Many of the cardinals were motivated by the lust for power, which proved to be their downfall.