One of the most private and esoteric rituals still extant from millennia past has to be the Catholic church’s behind-closed-doors selection of a new pontiff. But don’t write this one off just yet as some kind of treatise on the state of today’s church. This is a thought-provoking political thriller that’s quite engrossing (if occasionally a tad ridiculous).

When the pope dies, the ancient task of overseeing the selection of a new one falls to British Cardinal Thomas Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes), who finds himself wrangling a group of ambitious, back-stabbing, machiavellian candidates with wildly differing ideas on pragmatism and idealism – and even faith.

It’s smart, visually stunning, twisty, provocative and predictably sedate, and offers flashes of humor that some will see as subversively mirroring America’s nasty politics. And it keeps you guessing right up to the surprise, deeply satisfying ending.

Director Edward Berger’s previous effort, in 2022, was the multiple Oscar-winning All Quiet on the Western Front. This one garnered five Oscar noms, including Best Picture, and won for Adapted Screenplay.

Bottom line: This is a movie for lovers of good — no, great – acting. Fiennes, John Lithgow, Stanley Tucci, Lucian Msamati and Isabella Rossellini (doing a lot with a tiny role) elevate this far above its airport-novel source material. (120 min)