‘A movie about libidinous old gentlemen’: Scourged by critics, Polanski’s ‘Palace’ opens in theaters this Wednesday

What is it about?

In the large hotel, on the evening of December 31, 1999, at the dawn of the new millennium, the fate of several guests and the staff of this institution located in the Swiss Alps crossed.

The Palace is Roman Polanski’s 24th feature film. Filming took place in 2022 in Switzerland at the 5-star Gstaad Palace Hotel. The story takes the form of a closed session. Fanny Ardan, John Cleese and Mickey Rourke are among the most famous personalities in the cast. The actor is played by German actor Oliver Masucci, as well as Portuguese actor Joaquim de Almeida.

Exit to a specific context

Roman Polanski’s latest film The Palace comes in a specific context. The verdict in one of Roman Polanski’s trials came down yesterday (the latter was acquitted in front of actress Charlotte Lewis), so the day after this legal news comes his 24th feature film.

The theatrical release calendar is also special, as the start of the 77th Cannes Film Festival monopolizes all the attention. To the detriment of releasing films outside of Cannes. A way to play counter-program and/or hold the date, which is usually not popular with film distributors.

Only one theater is showing the film in Paris

After being selected out of competition by the Venice Film Festival last September, The Palace has been without a French distributor for several months. To the point that some were interested in a potential theatrical release of the film. Ultimately, it was a small outfit called Swashbuckler, which usually specializes in re-releasing legacy films, that started the project to release the film.

As Le Parisien points out, the film is showing in just one Paris theater, with a total of 82 theaters across France, down from the 520 theaters that screened his previous feature, J’accuse, which was released in 2019.

The film has already been released in several European countries, starting with Italy on September 28.

Corrosive criticism

Already recently welcomed in Venice (Variety spoke “dead silence“In the room, as Le Parisien recalls), the palace arrives accompanied by icy reviews of its French edition. For the newspaper 20 Minutes, it is “The sinking of the Titanic“.”We are left with the demoralized and sticky impression of witnessing the sinking of a titanic ship without a life-saving board or precious necklace. Like the old uncle jokes we adored as kids and now avoid during over-watered family meals, the film is a painful experience: it doesn’t make you angry, it hurts..”

From the Paris side, we summarize as follows:what is this movie like Big, sweet, fuzzy, indigestible meringue. (…) It is never funny, this festival of cynicism and vulgarity ends with fragments of glass and confetti
Spoiler:
And in a close-up, the Marquis’ dog dutifully sodomizes the penguin“.

In 20 minutes we can also read: “Even if we’re brought up on the beloved directors and great directors of the past, we quickly realize that Palace is a movie about libidinous old gentlemen that’s a little too focused on scatology and bad-ass jokes to want to make in the 2020s.“

In the premiere: “It’s a film so aggressive, ugly and misanthropic that it’s safe to argue that Polanski intended it as the middle finger. A skewering designed to rouse the indignation of the movie-going crowd, the self-sacrificing act of the author, who he knows will not leave the stage amid applause, chooses to encourage.“

Roman Polanski’s Mansion starring Fanny Ardan, John Cleese, Oliver Masucci hits theaters this Wednesday, May 15, 2024.