The rain forecast for Thursday came early on Wednesday, which raised concerns that the opening of the 79th edition of the Venice Film Festival would, of course, be clouded. But already in the morning the sun has risen on the Adriatic Sea and more than one has changed face long for a smile.

In addition to the kick-off, at the gala where the jury will be presented who will decide on Saturday 10 September the Golden Lion for best film, and which includes the Argentine Mariano Cohnthe award of the Golden Lion is added to the competition Caterina Deneuvegorgeous at 78 years old.

The film that opens the oldest festival in the world is White noiseby Noah Baumbach, with Adam Driver and Greta Gerwig, all present at the Lido gala. It is the first time that a production of the streaming giant opens the Festival, but it must be remembered that it was here the first festival in which Netflix presented its film, in 2015, when it exhibited Beasts of no nationby Cary Fukunaga, with Idris Elba.

White noisewhich Netflix will preview as Background noise Just four months from today, December 30, after also opening the New York Festival on September 30, is the adaptation of Don DeLillo’s best-selling novel since it was published in 1985.

Baumbach repeats the lead actor of story of a wedding, also from Netflix and also premiered in Venice, in 2019, when Lucrecia Martel chaired the jury. It focuses on a marriage, but in different circumstances. It’s not about getting a divorce, it’s about being together. Jack (driver) and Babette (Gerwig), along with their four children, try to survive not the couple, but a catastrophic disaster: a train dumps chemical waste in the city where they live.

Jack, who is a high school teacher who studied Adolf Hitler like few others, has a strong obsession – obviously – with death. And the film, which remains fairly faithful to the original book, will mark milestones throughout its plot, involving, in different times and circumstances, love without measure, jealousy, survival instinct, family and, if was small, to Elvis Presley.

Perhaps Babette’s phrase to her husband (“Life is beautiful Jack, as long as the children are here, we’re safe”) marks a little bit where the film is going, even if it’s spoken before the toxic cloud that changes the story a lot. .

In the morning press function, it was greeted with tepid applause, after a musical and “movement” number that recurs in the final titles.

Lars von Trier, unpredictable

It definitely had nothing to do with the manager of dancer in the dark Y Dogvillebut the director who likes to tease, probably after learning that the screening of his series Riget Exodus it started almost 25 minutes late, you must have loved it.

It is a series of 5 episodes of 60 minutes each (it will be distributed internationally by MUBI), which it occupies The kingdom, the Danish series that had a first season in 1994 and a second in 1997. In it, Von Trier takes up the television genre known as “medical drama”, subverting everything. On the one hand there are apparitions of ghosts, and on the other it sounds downright grotesque.

And forget Medical Centerwith Chad Everett, o ER emergencieswith George Clooney …

Karen is an older woman who lives obsessed with the original series. She is a sleepwalker (she binds herself to the bed) and one night she ends up at the hospital door. It’s night. In the morning a new doctor arrives from Sweden, and the Danes at the hospital, his colleagues, plus cleaners, play more than a joke on him, proposing to play a game with alcohol.

Much less disconcerting than usual for the director Meloncholyyes, with lots of humor, some nonsense and images with filtered colors that generate impact (and others, from the first season), The Exodus of the Kingdom deserves a complete view.

Catherine Deneuve, always a diva

We agree that press conferences at festivals, with a few exceptions, and often depending on the artist, usually don’t go far, nor do they offer great revelations. First, Catherine Deneuve complained about the noise produced by the simultaneous translation system and it seemed strange to her that the person who led the meeting asked her questions, as if she were just another journalist, which is quite common in this type of events.

Not very friendly, Deneuve wore a pin with the Ukrainian flag. “I don’t want to talk about it, just wear it”, he cuts a question. But a Ukrainian journalist insisted, uttering a dry “my mind and my spirit are with them”.

Do you consider yourself a cinema icon? “No”. His favorite directors have been listed almost by heart: Jacques Demy, François Truffaut and André Techiné. And Luis Buñuel, who here won the Golden Lion in 1967 with precisely Belle de Jour? “It was a very beautiful and shocking moment.”

“Mai” gives advice to actresses who are starting their careers, and also to her daughter, Chiara Mastroianni.

“When they pay tribute to you, you realize the passage of time because you don’t look back, not out of rejection, but out of lack of time, it’s something that is part of life … I love cinema”, he said confidently and determined that he still has a lot to give.

He hopes to discover new talent in his next projects and assures that at his age “it is much better to be in Europe than in America” ​​because better roles are being offered. She and she is still in the cinema, because she prefers being in a dark room accompanied by strangers than watching streaming movies.

Probably at night, at the gala, it will be splendid and better prepared.