Few writers delve as deeply into power as novelist Robert Harris. His clever Vatican-set drama brings out a less bombastic side of All Quiet on the Western Front director Edward Berger.

If you thought the U.S. presidential election was unpredictable, wait just how erratic things get at the Vatican when the cardinals gather to elect a new pope in "Conclave." This thinking-man thriller is based on Robert Harris' novel by Edward Berger, who takes on a very different challenge after "All Quiet on the Western Front." The story unfolds like a murder mystery behind the closed doors of the Domus Sanctae Marthae, where the College of Cardinals is locked up, except that no one suspects foul play in the death of the previous pope.

Still, intrigue abounds as the papabili — the people next in line for the job, played by such formidable actors as Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci and John Lithgow — pull every lever they can to get elected. But “Conclave” clearly subscribes to Plato’s adage, “Only those who do not seek power are qualified to hold it,” with a slate of candidates who seem positively British in their unassuming humility, rubbing shoulders with others ambitious enough to sabotage their rivals.

Just when you think you have it figured out, “Conclave” throws in one of the most satisfying twists in years, a Hail Mary that both surprises and restores one’s faith (maybe not everyone’s, but certainly the disillusioned). Films about living popes — like those made in recent years by Gianfranco Rosi, Wim Wenders and Evgeny Afineevsky about Pope Francis — tend to appeal to the devout, while films about the papacy’s transition to power have a much broader appeal, especially to those looking to confirm their suspicions about the curia’s pettiness and corruption.