Venice Film Festival | Roman Polanski’s ‘The Palace’ gets three-minute standing ovation
Film director Roman Polanski
| Photo Credit: CHARLES PLATIAU
Controversial filmmaker Roman Polanski’s film The Palace received a three-minute-long standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival on Saturday night.
Polanski‘s black comedy has a screenplay he wrote alongside Jerzy Skolimowski and Ewa Piaskowska. Set during New Year’s Eve in 1999, the film follows a dinner party at Switzerland’s Gstaad Palace hotel that 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, Matthew T. Reynolds, Teco Celio, Marina Strakhova, Michelle Shapa, Danylo Kotov and Davide Gagliardi.
Before the film’s premiere, The Palace set designer Tonino Zera received Venice’s Campari Passion for Film prize from artistic director Alberto Barbera, as per Variety.
Polanski has a history at Venice, having premiered his film Carnage, which starred Kate Winslet and Jodie Foster, at the festival in 2011, as well as 2019’s An Officer and a Spy.
It is to be mentioned that Polanski has had quite an infamous career, due to a history of sexual assault allegations and charges. In 1977, the filmmaker pleaded guilty to the charge of engaging in unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor. The infamous Harvey Weinstein case brought back attention to Polanski. In 2019, a French actress accused Polanski of raping her when she was just 18 years old. The filmmaker stands accused of rape on three separate occasions, all of which he denies.
