Controversial filmmaker Roman Polanski’s producer said the screening of his latest film at the Venice Film Festival was a symbol of artistic “freedom”.
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The 90-year-old director, a major filmmaker but seen by many as a symbol of impunity when it comes to sexual violence, did not travel to defend “The Palace” in Venice.
His film, shot in Gstaad, Switzerland, with Mickey Rourke and Fanny Ardant, will be shown there out of competition on Saturday evening.
Previously, the film’s Italian producer went on the offensive. “We live in the present and in the present freedom matters. “There can be no moral judgment in art,” explained Luca Barbareschi at a press conference.
“The Mostra must be a place of experimentation, provocation and freedom of expression for artists,” he continued.
A response to feminists who, on the contrary, consider this selection, as well as that of another artist ostracized by Hollywood, Woody Allen or Luc Besson (against whom the rape allegations have just been finally dismissed by the courts), as a provocation.
Polanski lives in Europe protected from the American justice system, from which he has been fleeing for more than 40 years after being convicted of illegal sexual relations with a minor.
Persona non grata in Hollywood, the author of “The Pianist” and “Rosemary’s Baby”, has seen his situation in France change since the César controversy for directing “J’accuse” in 2020, as He faced new allegations of sexual assault.
Asked by AFP about this invitation before the start of the festival, the director of the Mostra Alberto Barbera defended himself by saying it was necessary to make “the distinction between the man and the artist”.
Polanski’s last film required a budget of 21 million euros and was “difficult” to produce, Mr. Barbareschi said. According to the Hollywood Reporter, “The Palace” was sold in several countries, including Italy, Spain, Israel and Belgium.
But neither in France nor in the United States, regretted the producer, who has no doubts about distributing “The Palace” there, recalling that the previous film “J’accuse” could not be released in Anglo-Saxon countries. -Saxons. These countries “need to respect artists like the rest of the world,” he said.
In general: “I don’t understand why all platforms like Paramount, Amazon, Studiocanal or Netflix play Polanski films every day and earn millions from them, and why we couldn’t produce a new Polanski film,” he emphasized.
The day’s other major absence is far less controversial: Actor and director Bradley Cooper did not arrive in Venice for the competition screening of “Maestro,” one of the Mostra’s most anticipated films and screenwriters in the United States, due to the actors’ historic strike.
Produced at the end of the year and broadcast on Netflix, this Leonard Bernstein biopic focuses primarily on the emotional and family life of one of the most famous composers and conductors of all time, who died in 1990.
The American notably conducted the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and remains in the annals with his score of “West Side Story,” a major Broadway hit. The film particularly focuses on his tortured relationship with his wife, played by Carey Mulligan.