The Palace: the French distributor of Roman Polanski's film bought it without having seen it

And for a pittance, since “no one wanted it”.

That's it : The Palacethe new film by Roman Polanski has a French distributor, and a release date. It will be May 15, the day after the opening of the Cannes Film Festival. “I chose this date because there were almost no films scheduled for that day”explains to Parisian the film's distributor, Sébastien Tiveyrat of Swashbuckler Film, who also admits to having bought it without having seen it for a pittance, since “no one wanted it”.

According to the distributor, this has nothing to do with the quality of the film, but rather with a real conspiracy against the director: “There is a cabal against him. Polanski is the last genius of cinema still alive and my job is to fight to show films”. Consider Polanski as “the last genius of cinema still alive” is a very subjective statement (remember that Francis Ford Coppola has just finished his latest film, the ambitious Megalopolisand the first spectators were amazed), and The Palace was literally destroyed by critics during its presentation at the last Venice Film Festival. This comedy, which notably brings together John Cleese, Fany Ardant and Mickey Rourke, is a farce which takes place in a luxury hotel in Switzerland during New Year's Eve for the transition to the year 2000. The distributor assures the Parisian's microphone that he will discover the film in theaters, on May 15, like future spectators – another very strange statement.

About the “cabal” which would target Polanski, remember that the director's last film, I accuse with Jean Dujardin on the Dreyfus Affair, attracted 1.5 million spectators in France and won three Césars including Best Director. Roman Polanski is accused of rape of a minor in the United States for acts dating back to 1973, and will be tried in August 2025. At the beginning of March, the director was also tried in Paris for defamation of actress Charlotte Lewis. The judgment will be delivered on May 14. The day before the release of The Palace…