At the “Coup de Chance” premiere in Venice on Monday night, Woody Allen was given a three-minute standing ovation despite attempts by protesters to interrupt the event on the red carpet.
After the movie ended, there was a standing ovation that lasted for two minutes and 30 seconds until Allen started moving toward the exit. During the response, the director appeared visibly touched and at one point pulled out a tissue.
Before the movie had started playing, Allen was greeted in the theater with a standing ovation as fans sought to record him on camera. On the red carpet, he received the same enthusiastic support from spectators. However, a group of demonstrators passed by just outside the carpet. Social media accounts claim that the protesters disrobed and distributed flyers pleading with the festival to “turn the spotlight off of rapists.”
According to the tweets, the note also stated that “this year the Biennale Venice Film Festival chose to give space to Woody Allen, Luc Besson, and Roman Polanski, 3 directors involved in sexual violence against women, including minors.”
Allen said that “Coup de Chance,” his 50th picture, would be his last in an exclusive interview with Variety before the world premiere because he is becoming tired of fighting to get funding for his movies.
If it were simple to secure funding, I would be inclined to make one of the numerous film ideas I have, he admitted. Beyond that, though, I’m not sure if I still possess the same vigor to spend a lot of time generating money.
The film has a cheerful tone of deadpan delight, aided by its soundtrack of ’60s and ’70s jazz standards, according to Variety film critic Owen Gleiberman, who deemed “Coup de Chance” Allen’s best picture since “Blue Jasmine” in his Venice review. Although it’s not a comedy, when you watch it, you almost feel like you can see Woody Allen laughing at the human folly.
“Coup de Chance,” a French-language thriller written and directed by Allen in the style of “Match Point,” follows a lovely couple living in Paris who are torn apart by the appearance of a previous flame. Lou de Laage, Valerie Lemercier, Melvil Poupaud, and Niels Schneider are all cast members.
Allen’s 2019 comedy “A Rainy Day in New York,” which had A-list talent like Timothee Chalamet, Selena Gomez, and Elle Fanning, as well as “Rifkin’s Festival,” neither of which had a full theatrical distribution in North America, is his most recent film to bear his direction. “Coup de Chance” marks Allen’s first directorial effort since those films. Since Dylan Farrow’s accusations of child molestation against Allen were brought to light by the #MeToo movement, theatrical distributors in the United States have mainly shunned Allen.
Before “Coup de Chance” had its international premiere at the Venice Film Festival, Variety reported that Metropolitan FilmExport had secured French distribution for the movie. There were speculations that Allen wanted to screen the movie at the Cannes Film Festival, but Venice won the competition. “Coup de Chance” has previously been referred to by Allen as a “poisonous romantic thriller.”
At this time, “Coup de Chance” is not distributed in the United States.