Baftas 2025: ‘Conclave’ wins ‘Best Film’
Conclave has won the Bafta for ‘Best Film’, beating out Jacques Audiard’s Emilia Pérez, Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist, James Mangold’s A Complete Unknown, and Sean Baker’s Anora.
The movie led the pack with a total of 12 nominations, including Ralph Fiennes for ‘Best Actor’ for playing a conflicted cardinal at the heart of a conclave to pick the next Pope and Berger for ‘Best Director.’
It was the second major award Conclave took home on the night, with Berger having already been onstage to collect the prize for ‘Outstanding British Film’, where he used his speech to shine a spotlight on how cinema has always been an escape from an increasingly politicised world.
Set at the Vatican in the wake of a fictional pope’s death, Conclave stars Ralph Fiennes as Cardinal Lawrence, the church official tasked with overseeing the gathering of cardinals who will vote on the successor. As explosive secrets come to light about the various frontrunners and the ideological wings of the church clash, the film becomes more thriller than drama, with a controversial twist ending to cap things off.
In Far Out’s four-and-a-half star review, we wrote, “Everything about the film is meticulously crafted: from the astute and observational script, a career-defining monologue from Ralph Fiennes that moved me to tears or the spine-tingling score that exaggerates the unnerving silence of the church as the leaders tiptoe around each other with their manipulative plots and unspoken strategies.”
The film is expected to be a major player at the Oscars next month as well, with a total of eight nominations, and winning two of the most prestigious prizes on offer at the Baftas makes its odds even stronger.
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