At the end of the Venice premiere of Woody Allen’s Coup de Chance, the audience gave the film-maker a standing ovation that lasted three minutes. He was visibly moved by the response, but after two and a half minutes, left the stage. Who knows, otherwise, how long it would have gone on for? And was it entirely, or even at all, about the film?
Countering the rapturous response to Allen on the red carpet before the screening was a smaller group of protesters, handing out sheets of paper that urged the festival to “turn the spotlight off of rapists”. This took in the whole programme, which also includes films by Luc Besson and Roman Polanski. Besson was formally cleared of rape in 2023, his accuser barred from pressing any further charges in France or elsewhere in Europe. Several other women have accused him of sexual misconduct anonymously, but no charges have been brought. Polanski, meanwhile, has spent decades of his adult life on the run from US justice, having been found guilty of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor.
