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Roman Polanski’s black comedy “The Palace” received three minutes of warm applause at its world premiere on Saturday evening in the Sala Grande of the Palazzo del Cinema.
Producer Luca Barbareschi, French star Fanny Ardant and other key cast members, including German actor Oliver Masucci (“Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore”), Portuguese Joaquim de Almeida and Italian Fortunato Cerlino (“Gomorrah”), stood and bowed. But the audience’s reaction seemed more polite than enthusiastic, although there was occasional laughter during the performance.
Before the premiere of the film “The Palace”, set designer Tonino Zera received the Venice Campari Passion for Film Prize from artistic director Alberto Barbera.
Polanski directed the black comedy from a script he co-wrote with Jerzy Skolimowski and Ewa Piaskowska. “The Palace” takes place on New Year’s Eve 1999, when a dinner party at the Swiss Hotel Gstaad Palace takes an unexpected turn. The cast includes Oliver Masucci, Fanny Ardant, John Cleese, Bronwyn James, Joaquim de Almeida, Luca Barbareschi, Milan Peschel, Fortunato Cerlino, Mickey Rourke, Alexander Petrov, Viktor Dobronravov, Irina Kastrinidis, Olga Kent, Naike Anna Silipo and Matthew T. Reynolds, Teco Celio, Marina Strakhova, Michelle Shapa, Danylo Kotov and Davide Gagliardi.
Variety’s chief critic Owen Gleiberman wrote of the film: “When I saw ‘The Palace,’ Roman Polanski’s lurid debacle of an ensemble comedy, I was sitting in the 1,400-seat Sala Darsena (and it was full), and on the rare place.” If a line in the film got a laugh, it literally came from about six people. I’m not sure I’ve ever heard such deadly silence in a huge theater for a film that works so hard to entertain.”
Polanski has a long history in Venice, having premiered his film “Carnage,” starring Kate Winslet and Jodie Foster, at the festival in 2011 and “An Officer and a Spy” in 2019.
His return to the festival this year caused controversy as he faced multiple allegations of sexual assault throughout his career. He was originally arrested in Los Angeles in 1977 for allegedly attacking 13-year-old Samantha Gailey. He took a plea deal and pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor. He was sentenced to a 90-day psychiatric evaluation in a California prison. After 42 days he was released and placed on probation. Gailey later sued Polanski in 1988 and he eventually settled the lawsuit in the ’90s. In 2009, he was arrested again in Switzerland at the request of the USA, but the attempt to extradite him for trial was ultimately unsuccessful. In 2018, Polanski was removed from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. However, in an interview with Polanski and his wife Emmanuelle Seigner in March of this year, Gailey explained that she had forgiven him and “anyone who thinks they deserve to be in prison is wrong.”
When asked why he booked one of Polanski’s films this year, Venice Film Festival artistic director Alberto Barbera said in an interview with Variety: “It’s been 60 years. Polanski admitted his responsibility. He asks for forgiveness. The victim has forgiven him. The victim has asked for the matter to be settled. I believe continuing to bash Polanski is to seek a scapegoat for other situations that deserve more attention.”
During the film’s press conference earlier Saturday, producer Luca Barbareschi expressed his support for the director by shouting “Viva Polanski!” when it came to an end.
“I don’t understand why all platforms have: Paramount+, Amazon, Netflix, Polanskis [older movies] that make them millions,” he said. “Why aren’t they producing Polanski’s new film?”
“The Palace” premieres in Italian cinemas on September 28th.