The Palace

The Palace is a 2023 black comedy film directed by Roman Polanski, who co-wrote the screenplay with Jerzy Skolimowski and Ewa Piaskowska. The film stars Oliver Masucci, Fanny Ardant, John Cleese, Joaquim de Almeida, Barbareschi, Milan Peschel, Bronwyn James, Fortunato Cerlino, Michelle Shapa and Mickey Rourke. It chronicles the mishaps of a 1999 New Year's Eve dinner party in the Gstaad Palace, from mysterious powerful figures to the exploitation of the millennium bug for a guest's financial gain. The film had its world premiere at the 80th Venice International Film Festival on 2 September 2023, before it was released theatrically in Italy on 28 September 2023 by 01 Distribution. It has grossed $338,768 in the box office and was lambasted by critics, who criticised its humour, and called it Polanski's worst film. Plot New Year's Eve 1999. At the Gstaad Palace, one of the most important end-of-year parties in history is being prepared. Director Hansueli Kopf and his staff do everything to satisfy the whims of their guests, all members of high society. Among them is Bongo, a former Italian porn star whose career has long stalled; Dr. Lima, a famous plastic surgeon whose questionable works are visible on the faces of some guests, together with his wife suffering from Alzheimer's disease; the Marquise de la Valle, an elderly noblewoman who loves her dog more than humans; Arthur William Dallas III, a rich tycoon in his nineties who will celebrate his first wedding anniversary with the naive Magnolia, seventy years his junior; finally the shady Bill Crush, who boasts of wealth but seems bad at business. While preparations are underway, a group of Russian guests arrive at the hotel led by the ambiguous Anton, who asks Hansueli to keep some suitcases with mysterious contents in the hotel's vault, which has long been disused: the only key is given to Anton. Shortly afterwards, the Russians witnessed the resignation live on TV of Boris Yeltsin and the handover of power to Vladimir Putin.