The death of Pope Francis on 21 April led to an abrupt uptick in viewership of Conclave, Edward Berger’s thriller which depicts the events following the death of a fictional pope, and the cardinals wrangling to replace him.
The film, which won best picture at the Baftas earlier this year and was nominated for eight Oscars, is available on assorted streaming platforms worldwide. According to Luminate, which tracks streaming viewership, Conclave was viewed for about 1.8m minutes on 20 April, and 6.9m minutes the next day – an increase of 283%.
The pope’s death, from complications caused by a stroke, was announced early on Easter Monday. The news also appeared to have spurred renewed interest in the 2019 Oscar nominee The Two Popes, starring Jonathan Pryce and Anthony Hopkins.
That drama saw a 417% spike, from 290,000 minutes watched on Sunday, to 1.5m the following day.
The awards campaign for Conclave coincided with the pope’s hospitalisation for kidney failure in late February, and the cast – which includes Ralph Fiennes, John Lithgow and Stanley Tucci – were frequently asked about the pontiff’s health.
Both the key Italian actors in the cast, Isabella Rossellini and Sergio Castellitto, were particularly vocal in their praise and concern for Pope Francis.
“First of all, we would like to wish Pope Francis a quick recovery,” said Rossellini as the cast picked up their ensemble prize at the SAG awards.
Castellitto added: “For us that live in Rome, to live at a few meters, few yards from the pope is to have a much closer relationship. We see the helicopter leaving his place: ‘Oh, is the pope flying off today and coming back?’ So, our relationship as Italians to the pope is much closer. I repeat, I really wish him well.”
Rossellini’s ex-husband, Martin Scorsese, was among many from the film industry who paid tribute to the pope.
“He was, in every way, a remarkable human being,” Scorsese wrote. “He acknowledged his own failings. He radiated wisdom. He radiated goodness. He had an ironclad commitment to the good. He knew in his soul that ignorance was a terrible plague on humanity. So he never stopped learning. And he never stopped enlightening. And, he embraced, preached and practised forgiveness. Universal and constant forgiveness.”
Conclave was adapted from the novel by Robert Harris by Peter Straughan, whose screenplay won a Bafta and an Oscar. Fiennes stars as Cardinal Lawrence, who must silence his own religious doubts after the death of the pope and preside over the secretive voting process to choose his successor.
