Edward Berger’s follow-up to All Quiet On The Western Front is a slickly enjoyable papal popcorn piece about faith in institutions. Conclave may be set in the Vatican, but it’s practically modelled on American politics: one character even compares one of the movie’s many backroom meetings to a US political convention. And yet, Berger’s rich detail is specific, nicely combining the worlds of political and religious power play.

The movie opens on a distraught Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) making his way to the Holy Father’s chambers to confirm the Pope’s demise and prepare to elect his successor. Soon, all the pieces are in play, as Peter Straughan’s clockwork screenplay (adapted from the novel by Robert Harris) swiftly establishes each character and plot point like dominoes to be knocked down by hubris, interpersonal tensions hidden by smiling faces. The result is a wildly entertaining balancing act of egos,...