Venice Boss: Polanski’s ‘The Palace’ is A “Weak” Film, but Reviews Were “Mean” and “Disrespectful”

Here’s a comment from Venice boss Alberto Barbera that’ll definitely have people talking. It kind of left me puzzled.

Questioned by Deadline about the atrocious response Polanski’s “The Palace” received yesterday from critics, Barbera admits that the film just isn’t good:

I didn’t understand the level of negativity in the reviews. The film isn’t a great, great movie, otherwise it probably would have been in Competition. I told Roman before the festival that it was weak, but I don’t agree with the critics. The response seems personal and disrespectful towards him and the film. I know it’s not a perfect movie, I can see the weaknesses and where it doesn’t work, but it’s not as bad as the critics say. It comes across as mean.

Barbera goes on to say that he doesn’t regret selecting it, but that he also doesn’t believe the film will be “rescued” over time such as what happened to Jonathan Glazer’s “Under the Skin,” which had been booed at the festival in 2013 only to later become a cult classic.

“The Palace” currently sits at 0% on Rotten Tomatoes with an average critics rating of 2.2/10. If Barbera believed that it was a “weak” film then it probably wasn’t the best idea to select it for Venice, even in an out of the competition slot. Critics were already sharpening their knives for this one.