Starring: Fanny Ardant, Mickey Rourke, Oliver Masucci
Directed by: Roman Polański
Rating: ★☆☆☆☆
Polish cineaste Roman Polański spent most of his life in France after he fled the United States in 1978 to avoid prosecution. Since then his feature films have been regularly co-produced by European financiers. The Palace is a cinematic satire on both the old and nouveaux riches. The movie is set in 1999 on New Year’s Eve when the millennium bug was considered a tangible threat by the then worldwide decision-makers.
The screenplay is the result of a renewed collaboration between Polański himself and Jerzy Skolimowski, another enfant terrible of Polish cinema. In the early sixties they co-penned the script of Nóż w wodzie (Knife in the Water, 1962), a minimalist thriller which has marvellously stood the test of time. In this context, the expectations were high for The Palace when it premiered out of competition in Venice.
While Polański’s comedy is not autobiographical, the filmmaker with French citizenship is more than familiar with its Swiss setting. The film takes place in a real luxury hotel in Gstaad, not too far from Polański’s chalet where he spent his house arrest in 2009 before the local authorities opted for not extraditing him to the US. Polański and Skolimowski worked on the script during a stay at the Gstaad Palace, but the characters bear no resemblance to hotel’s real guests.
Polański’s comedy of manners is populated by a long list of extravagant figures, such as Bongo a retired porn actor seeking distraction through skiing (Luca Barbareschi, who also produced the film), Trump-esque businessman Bill Crush scheming to exploit the Y2K glitch (Mickey Rourke) and the Marquise, an anxious noblewoman that loves more her pet dog than any human being (Fanny Ardant).
As a satire of the shallow society and vulgarians sheltered behind a luxury resort, Polański’s moving picture lacks bite and gets only a few laughs despite the sudden appearance of a penguin in the hotel. Unlike Ruben Östlund ‘s caustic satire Triangle of Sadness (2022), The Palace works a bit like a bottle of champagne without the bubbles sparkle and fails to stimulate the viewers until the end credits. It is very much to be hoped that this will not be Polański’s final film.
Film Reviewed by Giuseppe Sedia
Published by Kino Mania on February 2, 2024