All quiet on the front It made a splash at the 2023 Oscars. The war drama set in World War I won four statuettes (international film, photography, production design and soundtrack) and put German filmmaker Edward Berger in the spotlight. By then he had already shot his next feature film, Conclave (in theaters from December 20), in which he has focused his attention on stirring up the Catholic Church, through the election of a new Pope.
“Both war and a conclave are battlefields for humanity. They are places in which a group of men fall victim to a doctrine of ideas that could potentially poison them,” compares the director, who competed with this film that is now hitting theaters at the last San Sebastián Festival. “If this poison had a positive influence on the election of the right Pope, it would be a good sign for the future, but if we chose the wrong one, it would set us back twenty, fifty years,” he comments. Even so, he ends up concluding that “there is nothing worse than war, in Conclave There is a battle of ideas, but no one is murdered.”
Ralph Fiennes is in charge of leading this thriller that reveals the miseries of the Vatican by weaving its own game of thrones. The actor plays Cardinal Lawrence, the person in charge of leading the conclave after the unexpected death of the Supreme Pontiff. His death begins a power struggle that leads the most powerful leaders of the institution to plot who deserves to be the protagonist of the new white smoke.
Berger researched, read books and interviewed priests to understand how these processes work. Regarding the publications about it prior to his film, he acknowledges that “there is a certain point at which the doors close and you don’t know what happens behind, because everyone has a vow of silence.” Even so, they located certain “cornerstones” that they took as a starting point and then let their imagination fly.
“Before I thought that movies had to be real and authentic, that they had to capture reality. But I’ve gotten over it, I’ve realized that movies are never real. They always fabricate reality, they are always a lie,” he acknowledges. Including family ones: “The director chooses what reality to show the public and how to do it, that is why it is manipulated. And now I love doing it. When are you going to see Star Wars, Dune either batmanyou know it’s not real. And yet, you think, ‘Let me jump in and live in this reality for two or three hours.'”
Sex scandals in the Vatican
The elections of the new Pope unmask a sexual abuser within the Vatican. The filmmaker regrets that this is something “super common” and detects one of the reasons: “The Catholic Church is plagued by sexual scandals because it is idiotic to think that celibacy works. Maybe I shouldn’t say this, but hundreds of years ago it may have been thought that this would be the way to dedicate oneself completely to God and Jesus, but time has made it clear that it is not.”
The German director defends that it is necessary for this rule to be changed so that there are no more attacks. “They may now come to light sooner because people dare to speak more, but even so, if you are a child or someone vulnerable, and the priest is a respected person in your town, you will be afraid to say it. It’s time to move forward and get rid of it,” he says.
Three months have passed since the feature film premiered at Zinemaldia, and for the moment there has been no response or reaction from the Church. “I spoke with many cardinals and many said they would go see her,” he bets. Of course, he believes that “they are not going to say anything publicly because, as the Catholic Church, they surely feel that they are above the movies.” Beyond the possible opinion and what may stir in the Vatican, Edward Berger considers that his film deals with “respect for the ideas and philosophy” with which the Pope is elected: “It talks about what the Church believes is the right path.”
After carrying out an immersion exercise in the elections of the Supreme Pontiff, Berger values that, to be “a good leader, it is important to be aware of where you come from, so as not to lose it and keep your feet on the Earth.” “Don’t forget that you are one of us,” he adds. This is the reason why at the beginning of the work, in which the death of the Holy Father occurs which causes elections to be held, he wanted to show him inside a plastic bag, holding the shot for several seconds. “I wanted to say that the Pope is someone like you, in the end we all end up in a plastic bag. If you take into account that you are going to end up in a cemetery like the rest, maybe you will be a good Pope,” he says.
Architecture as a reflection of power
Edward Berger speaks broken Spanish because he spent some time working in Mexico, but not as a filmmaker, but in a Volkswagen factory. And before considering being a director, his plan was to have studied engineering, following in the footsteps of his brothers and his father. This was precisely what made him see that this might not be his vocation. “He told me that he thought I had other interests, because I was always writing, going to the theater, watching movies,” he remembers. Although he doubted whether the problem was that he thought he would not be able to complete those studies: “His question gave me permission to continue on my path.”
Perhaps not so much engineering, but architecture, has remained another of his great passions, which permeates his way of filming and choosing locations. “For me, movies, and especially this one, are like a chess game, about putting yourself in the position of power. “Chess is very precise and I wanted to make a precise film,” he describes while acknowledging that he was inspired by Alan J. Pakula titles such as The Parallax View and All the president’s men.
Architecture also provides the backbone of its scripts that, in Conclaveis full of intelligent, effective and fun twists: “It was essential that each one looked different on camera.” The director confesses that the scenes in which the voting takes place – it happens several times – are his favorites, and how he planned them so that it would not be repetitive: “It could have been very boring, but if you make sure that the focus is on it every time In some ways, it can end up being something very interesting.”
Edward Berger releases this feature film, with the following, The Ballad of a Small Player, already rolled. Tilda Swinton and Colin Farrell are the protagonists of a work that, he assures, is “very different” from Conclaveand which will hit theaters in 2025.
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