Among the most influential people in the film world, there is less sympathy for “cancelled” filmmakers than Alberto Barbera.
“I am on the side of those who say you have to distinguish between the responsibility of the individual and that of the artist,” Barbera, the artistic director of the Venice Film Festival, told Variety in July.
In the interview, Barbera defended his immediately controversial decision to host the 2023 edition of the venerable Italian festival, which runs from August 30 to September 9, with new projects from Woody Allen, Roman Polanski and Luc Besson – all legendary filmmakers. who has been accused of sexual harassment, and those with careers that have faltered, particularly in the wake of the industry’s #MeToo reckoning in 2017.
The cases of Allen, Polanski and Besson are all markedly different. But together they represent the debate over which path Barbera is taking that is generally less taken in Hollywood: the separation of art from artist.
Here’s how each of their premieres went down at the Lido last weekend.
Woody Allen premiere Coup de chance
Woody Allen, wife Soon-Yi Previn (far right) and their daughters at the Venice International Film Festival on September 4, 2023. (Marilla Sicilia/Archivio Marilla Sicilia/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images)
As recently as 2017, the 87-year-old writer and director from Annie Hall and Manhattan was assembling star-studded ensembles almost every year and in September filmed “A Rainy Day” in New York with Timothée Chalamet, Selena Gomez, Jude Law, Diego Luna and Rebecca Hall. A month later, the #MeToo movement exploded after a New York Times investigative report on Harvey Weinstein, which led to Amazon terminating its distribution contract with Allen, who was accused in 1992 by his ex-partner Mia Farrow of sexually assaulting their adopted daughter Dylan Farrow to have abused. (Allen was investigated but never charged, and he eventually married Mia’s adopted daughter from a previous relationship, Soon-Yi Previn). Stars Chalamet, Gomez and Hall then announced that they would donate their salaries to charity.
Allen’s career has never been the same since. Actors including Kate Winslet, Colin Firth and Elliot Page have expressed regret about working with him. He cast Christoph Waltz for the 2020 Rifkin’s Festival, but the film had a low-key premiere at a low-profile film festival, Spain’s San Sebastián International Film Festival. (Neither Rainy Day nor Rifkin had U.S. distribution.) He lost his book deal.
Coup de Chance is Allen’s first film in three years, his 50th feature film and his first French-language film. “Woody Allen was tried and acquitted twice in the late ’90s,” Barbera told Variety. “Why should we continue to ban his films after almost 25 years?” Barbera asked the Guardian. “It’s impossible to release his films in the US now, which is absolutely unbelievable.”
The reaction to Allen in Venice was decidedly mixed when “Coup” premiered Monday night. According to , two dozen protesters gathered outside the theater, chanting slogans like “No rape culture!” Inside, however, the filmmaker was greeted with a standing ovation before the film even began, and received three minutes of standing applause after the screening – that of Variety Notes would have continued if the director hadn’t gone to the exit.
The film has received generally positive reviews, with Rotten Tomatoes currently holding an approval rating of 83%. Variety’s Owen Gleiberman called it Allen’s best work since 2015’s Blue Jasmine. “As a culture, I wouldn’t be too surprised if we were debating whether it’s time to give Woody Allen another chance as a filmmaker give,” he wrote.
However, it remains to be seen whether Allen will continue working. In a separate interview with Variety, he hinted at retirement. “I have so many ideas for films that if it was easy to finance I would be tempted to do it,” he said. “But beyond that, I don’t know if I have the same drive to go out and spend a lot of time raising money.”
When asked if he felt like he was canceled, Allen replied: “I just think it’s all so silly. I don’t think about it. I don’t know what it means to be canceled. I know that over the years everything has been the same for me. I make my films. What has changed is the presentation of the films.”
World premiere by Roman Polanski The palace
Polanski, now 90, was charged with six felony counts related to the use of drugs and the rape of a 13-year-old girl in 1977. He pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, but refused after hearing the He fled the United States before his conviction in 1978 and has been making films in Europe ever since.
Hollywood was initially lenient, which was never more evident than on March 23, 2003, when Polanski won the Oscar for best director for his Holocaust drama “The Pianist.” His 2010 thriller The Ghost Writer was similarly well received. Even his first post-#MeToo release, 2019’s “An Officer and a Spy,” flourished. The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival and received twelve nominations at the César Awards, the French equivalent of the Oscars.
“Polanski is one of the last great masters of European cinema,” Barbera told The Guardian. “He made big mistakes 50 years ago. He realized he was guilty. He asked the victim for forgiveness, and the victim forgave her. I am not a judge to judge someone’s bad behavior. I am a film critic and my job is to judge the quality of his films. But of course it’s a very difficult situation.”
Polanski’s latest Venice premiere, “The Palace,” is a dark comedy starring Mickey Rourke as one of several guests at a luxury Swiss hotel on New Year’s Eve in 2000.
Friday’s premiere also sparked small protests and received only a “lukewarm” three-minute standing ovation from the audience. (At European film festivals like Venice and Cannes, it’s common for the creative team to receive a standing ovation. However, anything under five minutes is considered lackluster. Real crowd-pleasers can receive ovations that last up to ten minutes.) Polanski was not in attendance.
The critical reaction was brutal. Variety’s Gleiberman called it a “jarring debacle.” Vanity Fair describes it as “borderline unwatchable.” After 12 reviews, the approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes is currently 0%.
Premiere by Luc Besson Dog man
Luc Besson arrives with Virginie Silla (center) and her children (left to right) Sateen Besson, Mao Besson and Thalia Besson at the Venice premiere of Dogman on August 31, 2023. (Franco Origlia/Getty Images)
Barbera was perhaps most defensive of Besson, the 64-year-old French filmmaker behind “The Professional” and “The Fifth Element,” who was accused of rape in 2018 but was acquitted of all charges in 2023. However, several other women alleged “inappropriate sexual behavior.” ” by Besson in a 2018 investigative report by French broadcaster Mediapart.
“Luc Besson was recently completely cleared of all allegations,” Barbera told Variety, adding to The Guardian: “For what reason should we ban a film?” [Allen and Besson] if they are not guilty in the face of justice? Why should we take stricter action against them? We have to have confidence in the justice system.”
Besson’s new action drama Dogman – his first since 2019’s Anna – follows a dog-loving New Jersey man (Caleb Landry Jones) who was abused by his father as a child.
The premiere took place on August 31 at the Palazzo del Cinema to a nearly six-minute standing ovation that moved Besson to tears, according to Deadline, whose critic Damon Wise raved about the “rollingly insane action thriller.”
Other reviewers weren’t so kind. “Insufferably obvious, creatively lazy, deadly dull,” wrote Variety’s Jessica Kiang.
Dogman currently has a meager 46% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.