Another film by Roman Polanski headlining a major film festival. The latest feature film by the controversial filmmaker was screened, in the director’s absence, on Saturday at the Venice Film Festival, where its producer raised the banner of artistic “freedom”. The Palacefilmed in Gstaad in Switzerland, is intended as a comedy with sketches in a luxury hotel, on New Year’s Eve 2000. In the credits, a few well-known names, such as Fanny Ardant or Mickey Rourke, but no popular stars.
The Palace hears laughter in broad strokes at the excesses of the time, with a gallery of outraged characters: Russian oligarchs, unbearable billionaires, nymphomaniac client, lustful plumber. Not to mention a dog, which will eventually mate with a penguin. Very far from the great films of Polanski, author of Pianiston the Holocaust, or classic horror Rosemary’s Babythis comedy with a budget of 21 million euros received an icy and embarrassed reception at press screenings.
A strong symbolic dimension
If the filmmaker did not make the trip to Venice, this screening in the oldest and one of the most prestigious festivals in the world had taken on a strong symbolic dimension. At 90, he has become a symbol of a certain impunity for perpetrators of sexual violence and one of the most contested artists of the #MeToo era. He lives in Europe safe from American justice, which he has been fleeing for more than forty years after a conviction for illegal sexual relations with a minor.
Persona non grata in Hollywood, Polanski has seen his situation change in France since the controversy surrounding the Cesar for directing obtained in 2020 for I accuse, while he was targeted by new charges of sexual assault. His selection, as well as that of another artist banned from Hollywood, Woody Allen, or Luc Besson (against whom rape charges have just been definitively dismissed by justice), was seen by some as a provocation .
“No moral judgment”
Asked by AFP about this invitation before the start of the festival, the director of the Mostra Alberto Barbera defended himself by believing that it was necessary to make “the distinction between the man and the artist”. On Saturday, the film’s Italian producer, Luca Barbareschi, went on the offensive. “We live in the present and, in the present, what matters is freedom. You don’t need moral judgment in art,” he said at a press conference. “The Mostra must be a place of experimentation, provocation and freedom of expression for artists,” he continued.
Polanski’s last film was “tough” to produce, said Luca Barbareschi. According to the professional media Hollywood Reporter, The Palace was sold in several countries, including Italy, Spain, Israel or Belgium. But not in France or in the United States, regretted the producer, who does not despair of distributing “The Palace” there and recalls that the previous film, I accuse, could not be released in Anglo-Saxon countries. These countries “must respect artists like the rest of the world”, he said.
In general, “I don’t understand why all the platforms like Paramount, Amazon, Studiocanal or Netflix show Polanski films every day and make millions with them, and why we couldn’t produce a new Polanski film” , he insisted.