Critics pan director's last film

Here’s John Cleese in Roman Polanski much-panned new comedy The Palace.

The former Python plays Arthur Duncan Dallas III, a  wealthy, ancient Texan, on holiday in a the luxury Gstaad Palace hotel in the Swiss Alps with his 22-year-old bride.

 Critics have not been kind to the film, which premiered at the Venice Festival this weekend. The Guardian called it a ‘ghastly, flaccid hotel farce’, The Daily Telegraph called it ‘soul-throttlingly crap’  - both awarding just one star out of five.

The Times gave it zero stars, calling it: ‘An eye-scorching atrocity that is instantly one of the most egregious film-making failures of the year, possibly even the decade.’

It is widely expected to be 90-year-old Polanski’s last film. The director fled to France in 1978 after being charged with six sexual offences against a 13-year-old girl, included rape by use of drugs.

Published: 4 Sep 2023