A few Oscars for The Father, a “rapturous reception” for The Son, and a filmmaker who must be blessed by the Holy Spirit. Okay, now that the obligatory Catholic trinity joke is out of the way, here’s the obligatory preamble. Welcome back to Clap Watch, where the festival audience’s applause is long and the A.V. Club audience’s patience is short. How do these people have the stamina for such lengthy ovations? And why should anyone care when they do? Why care about anything, this writer questions, but if you’ve made it this far we might as well have a little fun together. Those of us not in Venice to vigorously applaud might as well get a little giggle out of it, and the festival has provided plenty to giggle about.
No one was giggling during the festival premiere of The Son, it should be said. Rather, there were “audible gasps from viewers during one dramatic scene,” per Variety. Both the audience and star Hugh Jackman appeared “visibly moved” at the conclusion of the tragic family drama, directed by Florian Zeller. When the credits rolled, the crowd stayed on their feet clapping for a healthy 10 minutes. Bravo and brava to Zeller, Jackman, Laura Dern, Vanessa Kirby, Zen McGrath, and Zeller’s Oscar darling Anthony Hopkins!
Those who have followed the festival circuit will note—perhaps with exasperation—that while an extended ovation is a good way of taking a movie’s pulse, it doesn’t automatically translate to the best reviews. So it is with The Son: while Jackman now seems firmly in play for the Best Actor race, the critical reception is decidedly mixed. Variety calls the film “devastating” but “important,” while The Hollywood Reporter dismisses it as “an unrewarding dirge.” IndieWire’s David Ehrlich wrote, “I can’t remember the last time I cried so hard, or resented every tear that I shed,” and gave the film a C.
Speaking strictly on claps, though, the 10-minute ovation has shot The Son up in the year’s rankings behind Elvis’ 12-minute Cannes clap and the impressive 13-minute applause for The Banshees of Inisherin. The Venice Film Festival also saw respectable ovation times for Bones And All, The Whale, and Bardo. Don’t Worry Darling, far and away the most talked about Venice film, could have boosted its Clap Watch ranking if star Florence Pugh hadn’t fled the scene. And Noah Baumbach’s White Noise, meant to be his magnum opus, looked a lot like just a regular opus if the 150-second ovation is anything to go by.
Which, in fairness, it might not be. That film has a 91% Rotten Tomatoes score, compared to The Son’s 64%. Perhaps the real Clap Watch would be investigating the psychology of these rambunctious yet sometimes misguided clappers? Or maybe the real Clap Watch was the friends we made along the way. It has to be one or the other!