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Agence France-Presse

Joker, a daring take on the comic book villain starring Joaquin Phoenix, won the Golden Lion for best film at the Venice film festival Saturday with Roman Polanski controversially taking second prize.
It is the first superhero film ever to get this kind of art house kudos, and could now be on its way to Oscar glory.
The last two Venice winners – Roma and The Shape of Water – have gone on to win Academy Awards.
US director Todd Phillips – best known up to now for the slapstick comedy Very Bad Trip – paid tribute to Phoenix’s intense performance, saying he was “the fiercest, bravest and most open-minded lion that I know”.
“Thank you for trusting me with your insane talents,” he said.
The movie, which The Guardian had described as “one of the boldest Hollywood productions for some time”, has already sparked a heated debate.
And there were audible gasps when French-Polish director Polanski – a pariah in Hollywood after his rape conviction – was handed the Grand Prix second prize for his Dreyfus Affair drama, An Officer and a Spy.


Within hours of the Joker premiere, some warned that Phoenix’s full-throttle portrait of a needy, embittered clown who lives with his mother could empower incels (or involuntary celibates) – the angry, misogynist young men who have been blamed for so much far-right and white supremacist violence.
Vanity Fair’s Richard Lawson worried that it was “exhilarating in the most prurient of ways, a snuff film about the death of order, about the rot of a governing ethos”.
He feared that it “may be irresponsible propaganda for the very men it pathologises”.
Venice 2019: Joker film review – Joaquin Phoenix excels as DC Comics super villain in wrenching origin story
But most critics disagreed, with Variety’s Owen Gleiberman saying Phoenix has remade Batman’s arch-enemy as a “Method psycho, a troublemaker so intense in his cuckoo hostility that even as you’re gawking at his violence, you still feel his pain”.
Other reviews were equally ecstatic, and a sequel with Robert Pattinson playing the Joker’s nemesis Batman is said to be in the offing.
Phoenix reportedly lost more than 23kg (52 pounds) to play the part.

Phillips defended his film saying the jury “understood what we were trying to say, and I hope that translates”.
But almost as many headlines are likely to be made by Polanski’s win.
Having spent most of his life as a fugitive from American justice, he was accused of drawing “obscene” parallels between himself and the persecuted French Jewish army officer Alfred Dreyfus, who was the victim of anti-Semitism and a miscarriage of justice around the turn of the 20th century.
The Dark Knight turns 10: how Heath Ledger’s Joker fuelled our archvillain obsession
Polanski, 86, has been shunned by the big studios for decades after he was convicted of drugging and raping a 13-year-old girl.
His inclusion in the main Venice competition, which included only two female directors, sparked fury from feminists.

The French-Polish auteur and Holocaust survivor did not show up at the festival, leaving his wife, French actress Emmanuelle Seigner – who also appears in the film – to pick up his prize to muted applause and a few isolated boos.
She later told reporters that her husband was “very happy” with his win, saying the “film was very important to him”.
The head of the Venice jury, Argentinian director Lucrecia Martel, had boycotted a gala dinner for Polanski, only to be forced to clarify that she was not prejudiced against his film.
Additional reporting by Reuters


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American cinema

‘Joker’ wins top prize at Venice film festival after Joaquin Phoenix gets rave reviews as Batman’s arch-enemy

Joaquin Phoenix in a scene from ‘Joker’.

This image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows Joaquin Phoenix in a scene from "Joker," in theaters on Oct. 4. (Niko Tavernise/Warner Bros. Pictures via AP)

epa07826455 Polish-French director Roman Polanski arrives on the red carpet prior to the premiere 'Music of My Life (Blinded by the Light)' during the 45th Deauville American Film Festival, in Deauville, France, 07 September 2019. The festival runs from 06 to 15 September. EPA-EFE/JULIEN DE ROSA

US director Todd Phillips, flanked by actor Joaquin Phoenix, holds the Golden Lion award for Best Film he received for the movie ‘Joker’. Photo: AFP

The Dark Knight turns 10: how Heath Ledger’s Joker fuelled our archvillain obsession

Christopher Nolan’s casting of Ledger was questioned – until critics saw his electrifying turn as Gotham City’s mayhem maker, a performance that’s led directly to A-list actors Jared Leto and Joaquin Phoenix playing the character

** FILE ** In this file image originally released by Warner Bros., Heath Ledger starring as The Joker, is shown in a scene with Christian Bale, starring as Batman in "The Dark Knight." (AP Photo/Warner Bros. Pictures, Stephen Vaughan) ** NO SALES **

Actors Jack Nicholson (left) and Michael Keaton in Batman (1989).

Jared Leto (centre) as the Joker and Margot Robbie (right) as Harley Quinn in Suicide Squad. Photo: Clay Enos

Venice 2019: Joker film review – Joaquin Phoenix excels as DC Comics super villain in wrenching origin story

Joaquin Phoenix in a still from Joker. Photo: Nico Tavernise

Robert De Niro in a still from Joker. Photo: Nico Tavernise

Joaquin Phoenix in a still from Joker (category IIB), directed by Todd Phillips. Robert De Niro and Frances Conroy co-star. Photo: Nico Tavernise

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Joaquin Phoenix, who won rave reviews at the festival, plays DC Comics superhero Batman’s nemesis
In a surprise move, Roman Polanski’s ‘An Officer and a Spy’ took the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize


Joaquin Phoenix, who won rave reviews at the festival, plays DC Comics superhero Batman’s nemesis, and the story follows his transformation from vulnerable loner to confident villain.


Cinema

Robert Pattinson

‘Joker’ wins top prize at Venice film festival after Joaquin Phoenix gets rave reviews as Batman’s arch-enemy

Joaquin Phoenix, who won rave reviews at the festival, plays DC Comics superhero Batman’s nemesis In a surprise move, Roman Polanski’s ‘An Officer and a Spy’ took the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize

Joaquin Phoenix, who won rave reviews at the festival, plays DC Comics superhero Batman’s nemesis

In a surprise move, Roman Polanski’s ‘An Officer and a Spy’ took the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize