This year’s Venice International Film Festival has seen the debuts of a number of buzzy projects slated for a wider release in the coming months — with both Poor Things and Priscilla drawing plenty of advance praise. Not all of the films debuting there have done so to rapturous applause, however — and the fact that the festival has included work by directors Woody Allen, Luc Besson and Roman Polanski has prompted some backlash.
In the case of Allen’s Coup De Chance — yes, Woody Allen has indeed made a film entirely in French — that’s included protests outside of the film’s premiere. As The Hollywood Reporter detailed, approximately 20 people raised concerns in the form of a protest at the film’s red carpet. The protestors’ slogans included “No spotlight for rapist directors” and “No rape culture.”
When asked for more details on the protest, one of the participants told The Hollywood Reporter that they were taking a stand against “the rape culture of this festival, which celebrates men accused of assault.”
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Along with several other powerful menAs for the question of whether or not the film is actually good, reviews from the festival seem mixed. At Variety, Stephanie Bunbury wrote, “Coup de Chance isn’t good, but it may just have enough that is familiar from the director’s long back catalog to please those who wish they really were living in 1953, a hokey 2023, or whatever year it is in WoodyWorld.”
Writing at The Guardian, Xan Brooks called it “the best [film] he’s managed in a decade at least,” while The Daily Beast’s Caspar Salmon was more critical: “Everything here sounds false, like raising a toast with plastic champagne cups.” We’ll see if anyone from the cast of this one ends up regretting their participation after the fact.
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