At a spry 72 years young, Isabella Rossellini is having a moment. And an impressive one considering her remarkable life so far. The daughter of famed Italian director Roberto Rossellini and legendary actress Ingrid Bergman, the Italian-born artist was at one time a news reporter, a model for some of the greatest fashion photographers of the 20th Century, and an actress starring in unforgettable films such as David Lynch’s “Wild at Heart,” Robert Zemeckis’ “Death Becomes Her,” the 90s classic “Big Night,” and Peter Weir’s “Fearless.” Now, she may be on the verge of her first Oscar nomination for her role as Sister Agnes in Edward Berger’s “Conclave.”
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The most prominent nun during a somewhat tense papal election, Sister Agnes may often be quiet among the boisterous cardinals, but as she notes, “God gave us eyes and ears.” Rossellini has no problem admitting she has just a little over 10 minutes of screen time, but she knows how to make that spotlight effective. Just as Sister Agnes would.
“My character was very silent, but very present, observing everything,” Rossellini says. “She’s not part of the brawl of the men discussing who to elect liberal, conservative corruption, or corruption. She knows it all. She sees it all and she is a step removed, but God has given me eyes and ears, so she sees it and I think that’s her power. And I went to Catholic school, I grew up in Italy and the nuns had that authority, so I had witnessed it.”
At one point in the film, Agnes confronts John Cardinal Tremblay, a Canadian priest vying for the papacy portrayed by John Lithgow. It’s a scene that often gets an energetic reaction from audiences. Speaking at an awards Q&A for the film this past weekend, Rossellini reveals she didn’t know it was going to be that impactful.
“We were at the Toronto Film Festival and people applauded because finally she said something that everybody, the audience wanted to say,” Rossellini says. “So, I was kind of surprised by that reaction. I had [screenwriter Peter Straughan‘s] beautiful words and they were very powerful, simple, concise and so like a bullet.”
Rossellini adds, “It was easy in a way I was a bit nervous because I hadn’t spoken much in the film. It was the presence and alert because that’s how she was. She is to serve and to understand. She has authority and presence. But then when we had to speak – me, Isabella – I was a little nervous and Edward told me that he could hear my heartbeat in my microphone, but when I was there I thought, ‘Well, she must feel that so I don’t have to fight it. She probably felt that as Sister Agnes when she had to denounce John.'”
Lithgow, on the other hand, says he had a “very strong sense” the scene was going to land with moviegoers. He felt “terribly busted” by it on set.
“I saw the film first all by myself, my wife and me in an empty screening room,” Lithow says. “And I felt before doing all of these panels and meeting with the people who were seeing the film, I absolutely had to see it again with the crowd because I’d been hearing about Isabella bringing the house down when she curtsied him. I didn’t remember her little curtsy having that kind of impact. We were shooting the scene and everybody was saying, ‘That’s the moment! That’s the moment, the whole film!’ So I just had to come and see her on film. She’s awfully good.”
Indeed she is. It’s just taken a few decades for the movie industry to realize it again.
“Conclave” is still in theaters and available for digital download
