No Hollywood big-hitters, but Venice shines still, thanks to some five-star treats: BRIAN VINER reviews Poor Things and Hit Man at the Venice Film Festival
Poor things (141 min)
Hitman (113 minutes)
Coup (93 minutes)
The Killer (118 min.)
There was a little less glamor than usual at the Venice Film Festival this year, due to the Hollywood actors’ strike. But there’s no shortage of talking points and some truly wonderful films.
Poor Things by Yorgos Lanthimos is my tip for the festival’s main prize, the Golden Lion. Anyone who has seen previous films by the Greek director, such as The Favorite (2018), will not be surprised to hear that this one is extremely bizarre.
Set in Victorian London, it stars Emma Stone, absolutely fantastic as Bella, a woman with what appears to be the mind of a baby, who shares the home of a famous surgeon, Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe). It turns out it really is the ghost of a baby. After she drowned herself in the Thames, Baxter revived her by feeding her the brain of her own unborn child.
So when we first meet her, she is very simple-minded, but the film chronicles her development into an independent adult, a process accelerated, somewhat graphically, by her discovery of sex. It’s a remarkable film, shot in Lanthimos’ signature wacky style, with a boisterous performance from Mark Ruffalo as the linesman who tries to exploit Bella’s childish naivety and ultimately pays a heavy price.
I also loved Hit Man, Richard Linklater’s new film. It’s a rom-com, a thriller and a black comedy, all wonderful in one, with a delightful turn from Linklater’s co-writer Glen Powell in the title role of a mild-mannered philosophy professor who works part-time for the New Orleans Police Department and pretends to be a murderer to entrap those who hire him.
Poor Things by Yorgos Lanthimos is my tip for the festival’s main prize, the Golden Lion. Anyone who has seen the Greek director’s previous films, such as The Favorite (2018), will not be surprised to hear that this one is extremely bizarre, writes BRIAN VINER
Mark Ruffalo and Emma Stone in Poor Things
Woody Allen and Soon-Yi Previn on the red carpet for his film Coup de Chance
Woody Allen’s Coup de Chance is fun. It is his first film in French and also his 50th and possibly last feature film overall. Set in Paris, with a gentle jazz soundtrack, it stars Lou de Laage as Fanny, whose seemingly blissful marriage to a wealthy businessman is undermined when she begins an affair with an old school friend, Alain (Niels Schneider).
From there it becomes an Allen-esque soufflé of adultery, jealousy and murder. It is very nicely done, his best film in years.
Speaking of murder: I quite enjoyed the Netflix film The Killer with Michael Fassbender in the title role as an international assassin. It’s moody, stylish and quite ridiculous, but thoroughly watchable, with a nurturing cameo from Tilda Swinton.