A look at how Vatican thriller film 'Conclave' is also about clothes

In the film 'Conclave', costume designer Lisy Christl clothed an army of catty cardinals, from their miters down to their quirky glasses. Photo: The New York Times

Set in Vatican City, Edward Berger’s new movie, Conclave, is ostensibly about a clique of catty cardinals jockeying to become the next pope.

Centred around a tortured Cardinal Lawrence, played by Ralph Fiennes, and also starring Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow and Isabella Rossellini, Conclave is rife with scenes of cigarette-smoking clergymen meeting in shadow-filled stairwells, gasp-inducing vote counts and midnight break-ins.