Stéphane Fontaine shot Conclave as an exercise in controlled warmth and institutional shadow. The Vatican interiors glow with amber candlelight and the deep crimson of cardinal robes — red is the film's dominant accent, appearing in every frame as vestments, curtains, or reflected light on stone walls. Fontaine balances this warmth against the cold grey of the Sistine Chapel's concrete voting chamber and the harsh overhead light of modern corridors. The camera moves with a documentary's patience, holding on faces in half-light during whispered conversations. Rain outside the Vatican windows provides the only cool tones, turning the cloistered interior into a warm prison. For Fujifilm, Classic Chrome handles the restricted warm palette while keeping skin tones naturalistic against the red vestments.
Conclave is built from two contrasting worlds: warm, candlelit rooms full of red robes and whispered conversations, and cold, grey spaces where votes are cast and power shifts. Red is the constant thread — it shows up in almost every frame.
Warm, low light on stone and fabric. Red robes glow, faces fall half into shadow, and the mood is intimate and secretive.
Recipe: Cardinal Chamber ↓Cooler, flatter light. Colour is reduced, surfaces look hard, and people seem smaller and more exposed.
Recipe: Voting Hall ↓Pushing saturation to make red stand out usually makes it look cheap. In Conclave, red stands out because everything around it is calm and muted. Keep colour neutral and let a single red element — a coat, a door, a curtain — carry the frame.
The recipe handles colour and tone. These handle what a recipe can't.
Bounce low sun back into faces. The gold side adds the honeyed fill these warm recipes are built around.
Shoot wide open or drag the shutter in harsh daylight — motion blur and shallow focus give the handheld, unpolished texture.
Rent or stream it tonight, then pause on a frame and shoot it.
The disc carries far more image detail than a stream — worth it for a film you study.
Classic Chrome for the warm, candlelit interiors, because it keeps red rich but controlled. Eterna suits the cooler, institutional scenes.
Keep the rest of the scene muted and neutral, and let a single red element take focus. The recipes don't push saturation, so red stands out naturally.
All settings work on current X-Trans V bodies such as the X-T5, X-S20, X-T50 and X100VI. The X-T4, X-S10, X-Pro3 and X100V run them as well, and X-T3-era bodies can use them if you skip Clarity and Color Chrome FX Blue. Every body renders slightly differently, so take a few test shots and adjust.
Stéphane Fontaine, a French cinematographer known for A Prophet and Rust and Bone. Edward Berger directed.