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The Palace

Winston T. Boogie

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Title: The Palace

Genre: Drama, Comedy

Director: Roman Polanski

Cast: Oliver Masucci, Fanny Ardant, Mickey Rourke, John Cleese, Fortunato Cerlino, Irina Kastrinidis, Luca Barbareschi, Olga Kent, Marina Strakhova, Matthew T. Reynolds, Teco Celio, Naike Anna Silipo, Victor Dobronravov

Plot: A drama set on New Year’s Eve 1999 in a luxurious hotel in the Swiss Alps where the lives of various guests and those who work for them intersect.
 

Winston T. Boogie

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I read that the reviews on this one are brutal. And not just from people who hate Polanski.

The Venice film festival reviews are horrible, yes. The two clips I posted look pretty flat. Not sure what is supposed to be going on in them, but I assume there is some kind of subtext and metaphor happening that may not be as apparent as seeing the film as a whole would make them. On their own, those clips look...well...bad. They seem to be meant to be comic, and Cleese seems to be trying, but they are not funny.

The trailer to the film also looks bad and features a bunch of people that have had some really bad plastic surgery...really bad...including Mr. Rourke. It seems to be some kind of satire of the wealthy and how horrible they are...at least from what I can tell. The clips don't amount to anything when you watch them, they seem to be the just about the beleaguered hotel manager dealing with difficult guests and their bizarre self-indulgent behavior.

They basically play like short skits, SNL fashion, that really give no indication what the whole is. It certainly does not look promising from the trailer and clips so I can't blame people for not having an interest in it. It does oddly, since his last few films were in French and never played in the US, seem to be made for an English speaking audience and perhaps even pointed at Americans...even though I don't think it will ever be shown in US theaters and maybe not even stream on US streaming services.
 

Winston T. Boogie

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Polanski should already be retired. When your films can't get distribution in major markets, it's time to go.

Well, to some degree he seems to have been retired, at least outside of France, since Carnage in 2011. His last three pictures prior to this one were all in French and really never got near the US market. So, this film is kind of peculiar in as much as it is in English and seems meant, I think, to deliver some sort of message. What that message is, I have no idea. Have not seen the film and I am not sure when or if the opportunity to see it will even present itself.

Obviously, his reputation is destroyed and there is a lot of hate for him worldwide at this point and so I would not expect him to have any shot at getting a picture out to a wide audience in this climate. I'd call him semi-retired due to these circumstances. He has made some films since Carnage but I think they mostly have not been meant to please anybody outside of France. His bad deeds have engulfed him and so, perhaps this is his last picture.
 

Winston T. Boogie

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It's not just directors, but many actors and musicians (and politicians!) just don't know when to call it a day. Leave the stage and let younger people through.

Kind of funny, but in some ways, that almost looks like, from the clips I have seen, like it may be part of the subtext of his film. I don't know for sure because I have not seen it, but it seems to be sticking it to old rich folks.
 

Malcolm R

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A report in Reuters seems to indicate it will have a hard time finding distribution in the US and some other countries, likely even moreso if the film is as bad as early reviews indicate.

 

Winston T. Boogie

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A report in Reuters seems to indicate it will have a hard time finding distribution in the US and some other countries, likely even moreso if the film is as bad as early reviews indicate.


Today it does not pay to get involved with someone with a disgusting past, you will be labelled an enabler. Polanski will forever be known as the guy that drugged, raped and sodomized a 13 year old girl while she begged him to stop. Quite an ugly thing to do and by most accounts, including his own, it was not a one-time thing. So, I assumed he was making films in French because he did not have much hope for distributing his pictures outside of Europe, and not even in all of Europe. Seems even the French have rejected this one...which could be because it looks like a pretty lousy picture.

Woody Allen is in the same boat, nobody has much interest in promoting and distributing his films anymore. I don't really think the types of films Allen and Polanski make are the types of films the movie business has shown much interest in for almost 20 years anyway. So, if nobody wants to promote or distribute his films it likely is also because there is no money in them...and it is more about the money now than it ever was.

So, no profit, you have to partner up with a child rapist, what is the point of attempting to take on one of his pictures now?

He really should retire but as long as someone will pay for him to make a film he will probably make it. This one though, could spell the last time someone pays for one.
 

Malcolm R

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Amazing that some well-known actors will still work with them, too. Speaks to their character, as well.

Woody Allen is in the same boat, nobody has much interest in promoting and distributing his films anymore.

Allen and his latest film both got "enthusiastic standing ovations" at the Venice Film Festival. Someone is likely to pick it up.
 
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Winston T. Boogie

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Amazing that some well-known actors will still work with them, too. Speaks to their character, as well.



Allen and his latest film both got "enthusiastic standing ovations" at the Venice Film Festival. Someone is likely to pick it up.

Well, I would not equate working in a Polanski film with supporting his rape of a 13 year old girl. Basically, I believe a lot of filmmakers and actors don't actually know much about what Polanski did and believe a lot of the nonsense that has been spread about it.

As an example, Tarantino said during an interview with Howard Stern that the 13 year girl "wanted it" and so he did not believe what Roman did was a crime at all. Stern, to his credit, admonished Quentin saying that no grown man in his 40s should be defiling 13 year old children...Tarantino stuck by his idea that the 13 year old "wanted it" and so, no crime.

Hideous stuff. I will say this as well, without naming any names. In the late 1980s I had moved to LA and attended a party where there were a lot of famous people. Polanski came up at the party as a topic of conversation. I was just listening to people talk, not adding anything because I was not famous and was just enjoying listening to the conversation. However, that enjoyment stopped when I heard this Polanski talk. The feeling was amongst them that there was nothing wrong with what Polanski did, that many people did it and Errol Flynn did it and the kids that were sexed up by celebrities should feel "privileged" they had been chosen. Honestly, I can only use one word to describe their thoughts...fucked.

The general consensus was that the only reason Polanski was charged at all was he was Jewish.

Now, this was in the days prior to the internet, MeToo stuff, any of that. No cell phones recording everything you say or do. So, a private party was private (of course unless the host happened to be recording you). Most of what they said seemed way out there but they claimed that the 13 year old was a "hooker" that was regularly pimped out by her mom. I only knew the general details of the Polanski case, that he admitted to what he did, and had fled.

So, here I am, young guy, early 20s, in a room full of famous people and I am hearing this insanity. Obviously, when these people talk they talk a lot of shit and say it with a great deal of authority. When I heard Tarantino say the 13 year old "wanted it" I was taken back to this party. So, not really surprised Tarantino believes that, it probably has been said so many times at parties of famous people that it has been drilled into him.

Now, in the days of the internet, all the actual info is available and her testimony when she was a child is there to be seen. She did not "want it" she begged him to stop and pleaded with him to take her home. She was terrified and had no idea how to get out of there. Polanski gave her champagne and drugs and then took advantage of her frightened and obviously manipulated state. He finished by telling her not to tell anybody what happened.

Now, if people knew the true story, they probably would hesitate to work with Roman, I honestly don't know if many of these people do. I think they know what they have been told or heard from other famous people. So, they believe the little girl was a hooker or some sort of Lolita like sexpot that lured Polanski into sex.

I try not to blame anybody for believing things that are not true because so many people do now. I think some people really do think Polanski did nothing wrong...this is not the case. What he did was wrong in so many ways.
 

Winston T. Boogie

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Here's Quentin on Polanski, and to me what I am hearing in this is that he believes a bunch of the kind of crap that was said at get togethers. He even makes the mistake of saying the 13 year old was "dating" Polanski...total nonsense.



I should point out that I do not believe that you should not watch Tarantino's films due to what he says here. People are allowed to say stupid things. It shows Tarantino is a bit ignorant but does not have anything to do with his pictures.
 

Winston T. Boogie

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Perhaps when Tarantino's daughter is 13, he will reflect on what he said.

He is a dad now so, I hope he has changed his thinking. I've heard the guy say some outrageously stupid stuff and to some extent I chalk it up to the culture or lack thereof he grew up with. He makes very entertaining films but in no way do I find the guy a genius. I have nothing against him and to me, the films are the films, the man is the man. You can be a crappy person and make great films.

Polanski is also a father and I hope he has also changed over the years. He has made some great pictures, really has incredible filmmaking skills and instincts. He really has shown he can manipulate an audience. I don't think there is anything wrong with appreciating his filmmaking talents but...as a person, has been a bad guy.

I get actors wanting to work with him, he makes them look good and gets great performances out of them. He knows how to work with and utilize actors. Working with him really has no impact on what he did in his personal life nor does it prevent him from being who he is. So, I don't harshly judge his actors but I get the sense he can't attract many names anymore. He gets Cleese and Rourke in this but they are no longer stars with offers pouring in. I think he is done with making any kind of notable feature again.
 

TravisR

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Here's Quentin on Polanski, and to me what I am hearing in this is that he believes a bunch of the kind of crap that was said at get togethers. He even makes the mistake of saying the 13 year old was "dating" Polanski...total nonsense.
I'm curious if Tarantino's view on Polanski has changed over time because the brief portrayal of him in Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, while not vicious, is not particularly kind to him. They have Polanski dressed like Austin Powers and dancing like a dork in the party scene, he's referred to as a prick and trashed by their Steve McQueen and he is mean to his dog.
 

Winston T. Boogie

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I'm curious if Tarantino's view on Polanski has changed over time because the brief portrayal of him in Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, while not vicious, is not particularly kind to him. They have Polanski dressed like Austin Powers and dancing like a dork in the party scene, he's referred to as a prick and trashed by their Steve McQueen and he is mean to his dog.

Well, Tarantino did do a lot of research for that film and so I am guessing he learned that Polanski was not good to his wife Sharon Tate. Being that she is the angel of the film and Tarantino seemed to make the picture due to his feelings for her, his attitude may have changed toward Roman. One of the reasons Polanski was a suspect in that murder was the police found a video in the house of two men raping Tate and roughing her up. They said it appeared Sharon appeared in great distress during the video, she appeared not to be into it. Polanski was the one that shot it and can be heard (don't recall if he can be seen) in it. The video was returned to Polanski and was suppressed as evidence.

That was not a happy marriage and was likely headed toward a divorce.
 
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