Stellan Skarsgård, Harvey Keitel and Udo Kier star in this phantasmagorical horror about eastern Europe that saw half the Venice audience walk out. I couldn’t look away
One day they’ll make a film about the first public screening of The Painted Bird, inside the Sala Darsena at the 2019 Venice film festival. It will feature the man who fell full-length on the steps in his effort to escape and the well-dressed woman who became so frantic to get out that she hit the stranger in the next seat. The centrepiece will be the moment 12 viewers broke for the doors only to discover that the exit had been locked. I’m seeing this film as a disaster movie along the lines of The Towering Inferno, or perhaps a slapstick comic version of The Painted Bird itself.
Film festivals need masterpieces to marvel at and turkeys to laugh about. But they also need a film like The Painted Bird, a film that makes a mockery of star ratings. I can state without hesitation that this is a monumental piece of work and one I’m deeply glad to have seen. I can also say that I hope to never cross its path again.