We unpack with Edward Berger the grand ideas behind that final shocking twist in Conclave.
This article containsConclave spoilers.
Yet if you sawConclavethis weekend, then you know this obvious ending did not occur.
We doubt many audience members saw that coming, unless they read the Robert Harris novelConclaveis based on.
Was it not our protagonist who gave a prescient sermon about the importance of doubt in a pontiff?
I think in the end Ralph recognizes the right person becomes pope, Berger says of the finale.
To keep the purity, the innocence of your true belief.
It doesnt really matter whether youre a cardinal or a filmmaker or journalist or an engineer.
People can disagree with it, Berger shrugs.
Im not worried about it.
I do think that this fanatic fundamentalism is an American phenomenon that is not so much present in Europe.
It is probably [there] a little bit, but not as much.
So I just wasnt worried about that.
I mean, religious fanatics?
I dont have them in my daily life in Europe.
Its a crack that a light can shine through, a guiding light for the future, perhaps.
And the future is a world where maybe both can exist?
There would be very little that is left.
There would be no identity, no history, no culture.
So much is brought through these institutions.
So I do think they are a very important pillar in our society.
Hence the beauty that the entire film is designed around.
I wanted to find the visual equivalent of Ralph feeling empty and lonely and oppressed, Berger explains.
So how do you build that?
Otherwise, hes shut away.
And what kind of voices does that life-affirming harmony intone?
And he hears that feminine laughter of those three nuns.
In a way, its the future and it evokes a smile on him.
Conclave is in theaters now.
