Conclave, director Edward Berger's 2024 Vatican thriller about the election of a new pope, premiered at the Telluride Film Festival in August 2024 and opened in U.S. theaters that October through Focus Features. It earned eight Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, and won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay at the March 2025 ceremony. This piece assembles what named critics and outlets said about it — not a verdict of our own.
What is Conclave, and who made it?
The film adapts Robert Harris's 2016 novel of the same name, with a screenplay by Peter Straughan. Ralph Fiennes leads the cast as Cardinal Thomas Lawrence, the dean orchestrating a papal conclave, alongside Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow, Isabella Rossellini, and Lucian Msamati. The running time is 120 minutes. In the U.S., the title has streamed on Peacock since late 2024; as of February 2026, availability is subject to change, so check current platform listings.
| Title | Year | Director | Distributor | Runtime | Where it streams (date checked) | Image credit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conclave | 2024 | Edward Berger | Focus Features | 120 min | Peacock, U.S. (checked Feb. 2026; subject to change) | AI-generated image |
What did the lead critics say about the performances?
The most consistent thread across reviews was Ralph Fiennes. Critics at The Guardian and Variety both centered his lead performance in their notices, describing a restrained, interior portrait that carries the film's procedural tension. Reviewers writing for RogerEbert.com similarly singled out the ensemble around him, with particular attention to Stanley Tucci's turn as a progressive cardinal and Isabella Rossellini's supporting role, which later drew the film's sole acting nomination in the supporting category at the Oscars. The reception record treats the acting as the film's most agreed-upon strength; no major outlet in the roundup disputed it.
How did critics describe the film's tone and craft?
Writers at The New York Times and The Washington Post framed Conclave as a unusually tense chamber piece — a thriller built on voting procedure, whispered lobbying, and corridors rather than action. Berger's craft after his work on All Quiet on the Western Front, which won him the international-feature Oscar in 2023, was a frequent reference point, with several reviewers noting the formal rigor he brought to confined spaces. Critics at the BBC's culture desk and at Vulture also highlighted the score and the way suspense is sustained across successive ballots. These are attributed characterizations drawn from published notices, not our assessment.
Did any critics push back on Conclave?
Yes, and the disagreement is worth preserving rather than averaging. The dividing line was the ending. Several critics, including reviewers at New York magazine's Vulture and writers at The Atlantic, called the final twist divisive — some found it a bold thematic escalation, others an unearned swerve that rewired the story's politics in its closing minutes. A second, smaller line of criticism concerned the film's treatment of faith and institutional cynicism, which some reviewers found more schematic than its performances suggested. The record shows a film praised for execution and debated for its conclusion.
What did the aggregators record?
Aggregators, named as such: Rotten Tomatoes logged an approval rating in the low-to-mid 90s percent range for Conclave's opening run, and Metacritic assigned it a weighted score of 79 out of 100, indicating what that service categorizes as generally favorable reviews. Aggregate figures move over time as new reviews are added; both numbers are as recorded around the film's 2024 release window. Any aggregate cited anywhere on this site is always named to its aggregator rather than blended into an editorial judgment.
How did awards voters receive it?
Awards bodies are critics of a kind, and their votes are on the record. Conclave received eight nominations for the 97th Academy Awards in March 2025, including Best Picture, Best Actor for Fiennes, and supporting nominations for Rossellini. It won one: Best Adapted Screenplay for Peter Straughan. It also took home the Screen Actors Guild Award for ensemble cast, per reporting by The Associated Press on the February 2025 ceremony. Earlier in the season it won best-film honors from several critics' groups, as compiled in awards-season coverage that winter.
Where can you watch Conclave now?
In the U.S., Conclave has been available on Peacock's subscription tiers since December 2024, and it has been offered for digital rental and purchase on Amazon, Apple TV, and other major storefronts since late 2024. A physical edition on Blu-ray and DVD shipped in December 2024 through Universal's home arm. Availability and pricing shift; as of February 2026, confirm current options on the platforms' own pages before planning a viewing.
What should you weigh before watching?
Spoilers below this line.
Beyond the premise — a pope dies, a conclave convenes, secrets surface among the candidates — the film's narrative turns on revelations about each cardinal and on a final disclosure about the eventual winner. Reviews that discuss the ending in detail are easy to find at the outlets named above; if you prefer to go in cold, their spoiler-free notices are clearly labeled. Nothing above this line spoils the outcome.
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