Roman Polanski’s latest feature film The Palace premiered at the 80th Venice Film Festival on Sunday. It has now opened with a dismal 0 percent rating on review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes. Based on a total of 10 reviews submitted by Rotten Tomatoes approved critics, the score implies an unanimous note of disappointment with the filmmaker’s latest work, which is playing at the main competition of the festival. (Also read: Woody Allen calls cancel culture ‘silly’, considers retirement after latest film Coup de Chance)
Rotten score
The Palace chronicles a New Year’s Eve celebration of 1999 in a luxurious hotel called the Gstaad Palace, which is located in the Swiss Alps, where the lives of various guests and those who work for them, intersect. It stars Oliver Masucci, John Cleese, Fanny Ardant, Luca Barbareschi, and Mickey Rourke. Although the dismal 0 percent score might see an improvement as more reviews arrive, the poor reception of the film has certainly proved to be a major hindrance for the distribution of the film. So far, the film has sold distribution rights across continental Europe only.
Poor reviews
The Palace did earn a modest standing ovation at the premiere at Venice, although the reception was particularly harsh, with many critics calling it a ‘misfire’ that is to be ranked as Polanski’s worst to date. A press member took to Twitter and said, “#Polanski’s #ThePalace makes What? feel like a comedic masterpiece, in comparison. Imagine Playtime being remade by Michael Bay but without the wit and subtlety of the Transformer films. I don’t want to sound negative, but it’s one of the worst films I’ve ever seen. #Venezia80” The Variety review said, ‘Nothing in the movie is funny,’ and wrote, “Even at 90, he wants to be the “bad boy.” In “The Palace,” though, he’s just a bad filmmaker.”
The Times review by Kevin Maher called it, “An eye-scorching atrocity that is instantly one of the most egregious film-making failures of the year, possibly even the decade.” Whereas, writing for The Wrap, Ben Kroll said, “Perhaps there is none beyond the simple desire to make filmgoers squirm, trapping them in a garish getaway filled with grotesques, and watching everyone get drunker and louder and more unpleasant until the clock strikes, the fireworks hit, and little is resolved but the audiences’ resolve to check out of this hotel and never return.”
Roman Polanski’s inclusion at Venice had also caused outrage and protests at the Lido as the controversy surrounding the director have not stopped. Polanski was arrested and charged with drugging and raping a 13-year-old girl in 1977. He left the U.S. in 1978 after pleading guilty to the statutory rape.