The Movie Stars Are Back! Recap of the 81st Venice Film Festival 2024

George Clooney & Brad Pitt at photocall for Wolfs
Photo: Giorgio Zucchiatti - La Biennale di Venezia ASAC

(Venice, Italy) After the dearth of movie stars at last year's film festival due to the Hollywood actors' strike -- a crucial battle over Human Creativity versus Artificial Intelligence (the actors won, yay!) -- the celebrities have returned to Venice to glitz up the Red Carpet and glam around the town. 

This year, I saw fewer films than usual because of scheduling conflicts and a computer booking glitch (I was the glitch). Venice often tries to capitalize on the presence of international journalists in town for the film festival and schedules openings at other venues around the same time.

Renzo Rosso checking out the selfie he just took with Oprah Winfrey
as she talks with Graça Machel at the DVF Awards
Photo: Cat Bauer

Within the span of a couple of days, there were press previews for Julian Lennon's thoughtful photography retrospective, Whispers at Le Stanze della Fotographia, and the marvelous celebration of craftsmanship at Homo Faber's "The Journey of Life," both on the Island of San Giorgio Maggiore. 

Diane von Furstenberg's inspiring DVF Awards, now in its 14th edition, saw Oprah Winfrey arrive with her sidekick, Gayle King, down at Arsenale (I ran into them in the ladies' room!) as the Biennale Art exhibition Strangers Everywhere played on in the background. 

On Sunday, September 1st, the Regata Storica, Venice's main rowing competition, shut down the Grand Canal for hours. Boat taxis carrying dazzling human cargo zoomed across the lagoon from the historic center to the Lido, and special water buses were added to the usual vaporetto lines. The joint was jumpin.' 

Here is my annual quickie recap of the films I managed to see, with letter grades and links to the reviews that I agree with the most.

Winona Ryder & Michael Keaton in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice - Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

1. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

At the press conference, Tim Burton said that over the past few years he had become disillusioned with the movie industry. If he was going to do anything again, he wanted to do something from his heart -- something he wanted to do. He had lost himself a little bit. Beetlejuice was re-energizing -- it was a way to get back to doing the things he loved doing the way he loved doing it with the people he loved doing it with. It didn't matter how it turned out. He just enjoyed and loved making the film with all these people. 

And the public was ready. After waiting 36 years for the sequel, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice scored the second-biggest September opening weekend of all time with an impressive domestic box office of $110 million.

Here's a review from Justin Change at NPR that pretty much sums up the general consensus:

Beetlejuice is back, in a supernatural screwball sequel

Fortunately, there isn’t a whiff of cynicism to Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. Burton shows real affection for the first film’s characters and genuine curiosity about how they’re doing three decades or so later.

I love that Beetlejuice and Tim Burton are part of the zeitgeist when the world is bleak, and I think the rest of the planet should get into the same spirit of doing things we love the way we love doing them with the people we love. I'm happy that people are going to the theater to see it on the big screen surrounded by other human beings. Grade B+

Nicole Kidman on the Red Carpet for Babygirl
Photo: Giorgio Zucchiatti - La Biennale di Venezia ASAC

2. Babygirl

Babygirl opens with a close-up of Nicole Kidman's character having an intense orgasm with her loving husband, played by Antonio Banderas, which turns out to be fake. I never quite connected with the character, although Kidman ended up winning Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival. It would be excellent if the film inspired more May-December romances between younger men and older women. 

Tim Grierson at Screen Daily sums it up: 

Nicole Kidman and Harris Dickinson star in Halina Reijn’s erotic May-December drama

Halina Reijn’s third feature works better in the bedroom than in the boardroom. Babygirl is an erotic drama about a powerful CEO who embarks on an ill-advised affair with a much younger intern, finally accessing the sexual desires this tightly-wound woman has never permitted herself to enjoy. Nicole Kidman and Harris Dickinson are excellent as these carnal combatants, each of their characters jockeying for control. But the writer-director’s larger ideas — about sexism in the workplace and the feelings of shame surrounding sexual kinks — fail to burn as hot as the two leads’ fiery chemistry. 

Babygirl opens on Christmas Day in the US and on January 10, 2025, in the UK. If your marriage is in trouble, this might be a good reason to get out of the house during the holidays. Grade: B-

3. One to One: John & Yoko

In 1972, John and Yoko left their estate in England for a tiny one-room apartment on Bank Street in the West Village with a large television set at the foot of the bed. As an uber Lennon fan, I absolutely loved director Kevin Macdonald's original way of presenting a treasure trove of unseen archives, footage, home movies, and telephone conversations.

We relive the time that led up to Lennon's only live performance without the Beatles, the One to One concert at Madison Square Garden in August to benefit the children of Staten Island's Willowbrook institution. 

The review by Sheri Linden at The Hollywood Reporter is excellent:

'One to One: John & Yoko' Review: An Exhilarating and Deeply Political Vision of a Year in the Life

Director Kevin Macdonald combines footage of a 1972 benefit concert with a rich assortment of archival material in his portrait of the former Beatle and his artist wife during their first months in New York.

In its mix of remarkable archival material, the film is both tender and galvanizing, summoning up what New York felt like in 1972 (yes, I would know) and offering a fresh slant on a country’s upheaval and a generation’s countercultural awakening.

I'm in the middle of writing a separate post about the film with more information. I can't find a release date yet. But whenever and wherever it screens, make every effort to see it, no matter how old or young you are. It's a great history lesson. Grade A+

Jude Law in The Order - Photo: Michelle Faye

4. The Order

About 15 minutes into The Order, I started wondering when Jude Law was going to show up. Then I realized he had been on the screen all along -- that's how different this character is from the "matinee idol" -- as one journalist called him -- that we are used to. Based on real events, Law plays FBI agent Terry Husk on the hunt for real-life white supremacist Bob Matthews, who formed an army called The Order in the 1980s whose mission was to make America white again.

The Deadline review by Stephanie Bunbury sums it up with eloquence:

‘The Order’ Review: Jude Law Shines In Justin Kurzel’s Brilliantly-Shot, Sweeping Slice Of Political Americana — Venice Film Festival

The Order was real, the investigation was real; the police characters, however, are not individually real. Terry Husk is hardly an unfamiliar fictional standby — a grizzled veteran cop who drinks too much, focuses on his job with such ferocity that he hasn’t realized his family has left him and is merely inches from being completely washed up: never was a character better named. He could feel like no more than a cliché, but Jude Law brings such a range of nuance to every exchange that he is always fully, complicatedly human.

The Order will get a limited release in the States on December 6, 2024. Amazon Prime Video is distributing it outside the US; I imagine it will eventually make its way into your home. I thought it was riveting, so yes, see it. Grade: A-

Cate Blanchett on the Red Carpet for Disclaimer
Photo: Giorgio Zucchiatti - La Biennale di Venezia ASAC 

5. Disclaimer

I only saw one episode, Chapter 5, of this seven-part Apple TV+ series directed by Alfonso Cuaron starring Cate Blanchett and Kevin Kline, so I can't offer an opinion except to say I was intrigued, but not absorbed. 

Let's hear the opinion of Ben Travers at IndieWire:

‘Disclaimer’ Review: Alfonso Cuaron’s Vicious Apple Series Is an Astute, All-Consuming Thriller 

Venice: Cate Blanchett's latest TV series is a methodical, magnificent mystery of complicity about an acclaimed documentarian whose dark past resurfaces in a vengeful widower's debut novel.

Complicity. Narrative. Form. Cuarón isn’t shy in laying out his thesis, instructing the audience to watch carefully as his seven-episode adaptation of Renée Knight’s 2015 novel plays out. What information do we know, and what information do we only presume to know? Who’s providing it? How are they providing it? These questions are always top of mind, but the four-time Academy Award winner behind “Roma,” “Gravity,” and “Children of Men” trusts in his story — and his team’s storytelling prowess — to sweep you up anyway. Which it does, and they do. “Disclaimer” is a cunning psychological thriller with twists and turns enough to thrive as pure entertainment. But never does it drift from its initial portent, so that when the truth comes crashing down, it levels everyone involved, onscreen and off.

Apple TV+  will release the first two episodes on Friday, October 11 with new episodes each Friday until the finale on November 15. Definitely check it out if you've got Apple TV+. Should you invest in a subscription? Ben Travers grades it A-

George Clooney (with Amal Clooney, center) & Brad Pitt at Sala Grande premiere of Wolfs
Photo: Giorgio Zucchiatti - La Biennale di Venezia ASAC

6. Wolfs

George Clooney and Brad Pitt seem to genuinely enjoy being movie stars, and I genuinely enjoy watching them play off each other. The first time I encountered their witty banter in person was during a press conference back in 2008 for Burn After Reading. It was my very first press conference at the Venice Film Festival for this blog -- I had been there before as a member of the press when I wrote for the International Herald Tribune's supplement Italy Daily, but had never attended a screening of a film, followed by a press conference. I was like a kid in a candy store. It was exciting, especially because I asked George Clooney a question. 

Now, 16 years later, the stars still have the same vibe. In Wolfs, they both play a fixer hired by two different women to clean up what appears to be a dead body in a penthouse suite of a luxury hotel. 

From my favorite critic, Owen Gleiberman at Variety:

‘Wolfs’ Review: George Clooney and Brad Pitt Are Rival Fixers in a Winning Action Comedy Spiked With Movie-Star Chemistry

The two actors go at each other in Jon Watts's likable throwaway caper, which plays like an exercise in movie-star nostalgia.

These two have been stars since the ’90s, and no one, least of all themselves, is pretending that they’re young. Yet no one makes aging into the new cool more than they do. Clooney is the rare actor who has always worn his gray like the essence of glamour (when you catch a shot of him in the old days, the dark hair looks all wrong), and now, at 63, with a silver beard and hair not just two-tone but marbled, he’s achieved a kind of fine-wine mystique. As for Pitt, a mere spring chicken at 60, he kind of is ageless.

...Clooney and Pitt had this kind of chemistry before, in “Ocean’s Eleven,” where it was in the very detachment of their banter that they found a bond. In “Wolfs,” Clooney and Pitt revel in the crack timing, in the I-truly-do-not-like-you obscene banter, that makes even the most casual insult take wing. As the movie goes on, these two will learn to work together, but the film’s anti-grammatical title is saying that each one is a lone wolf. They have no desire to mesh like wolves. The joke, of course, is that from their stylish leather jackets to their secret Mr. Big to their reading glasses, they’re kind of the same man.

Wolfs will have a limited release in theaters on September 20, then stream globally on Apple TV+ starting September 27. The reason to see it in theaters is to have a fun date night out if you're of a certain age and in a long-term relationship. Otherwise, it might be another reason to subscribe to Apple TV+. Grade: B

7. Master and Commander

Director Peter Weir received the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement, and I went to the award ceremony because I messed up my reservation for The Room Next Door, which would go on to win the Golden Lion for Best Film. Ethan Hawk gave a warm, wonderful introduction, saying that Peter Weir gave him his first role in Dead Poet's Society, which led to him coming to Venice for his first film festival 35 years ago in 1989.

The award ceremony was followed by a screening of Weir's 2003 film Master and Commander, starring Russell Crowe, about a brash 19th-century British warship captain who prepares to attack a superior French vessel. It had gotten excellent reviews back in the day, so I stayed to watch it. I'm not a fan of naval war battles, and there was only one brief, distant woman with no dialogue in the entire film. So I got bored and left. 

Martin Pengelly at the Guardian reviewed it 20 years later in 2023 and absolutely loved it.  

Master and Commander at 20: a miraculous masterpiece of action cinema

This article is more than 9 months old

Peter Weir’s adventure didn’t find enough of an audience in 2003 but its old-fashioned sturdiness has given it a long life

Master and Commander is an action movie with a brain. Its thrills are never mindless. Weir’s recreation of life in the close confines of a warship in 1805 is meticulous, fascinating and sometimes, rightly, nausea-inducing. Crowe and Bettany’s interpretation of a friendship between two men matches such artistry precisely. As Gabriella Paiella said for GQ earlier this year, much of the film’s lasting appeal springs from that portrayal of male closeness.

It was called an "absolute masterpiece" and scored 85% at Rotten Tomatoes, so apparently I am in the minority. If it sounds like your type of entertainment, you can rent or buy it wherever you get your movies. 

Daniel Craig on the Red Carpet for Queer
Photo: Giorgio Zucchiatti - La Biennale di Venezia ASAC

8. Queer

From the moment we see Daniel Craig as William Lee, he is loud, drunk, obnoxious, but still charming, and definitely not James Bond. Split into three chapters and an epilogue, I loved the first chapter of the film. Later, when we moved to the jungles of South America in search of a drug called Yage that causes telepathy, it lost its focus, yet director Luca Guadagnino kept his originality and creativity. And Daniel Craig was brilliant all the way through.

‘Queer’ Finds Daniel Craig Cruising for Sex, Drugs — and an Oscar

The actor who redefined James Bond goes for broke in Luca Guadagnino's beautiful, filthy, extraordinary take on William S. Burroughs' novel

Whether or not Luca Guadagnino‘s screen adaptation will change the book’s standing remains to be seen — but this sordid, steamy, and exceedingly swooning take on Burroughs’ novel will certainly move you to appreciate how he makes the author’s amour fou tale his own. And it will definitely alter your view of Daniel Craig. The British movie star had already been in the process of shaking off his association with a certain career-defining role, in addition to jogging your memory in regards to his range beyond Bond — his dandy sleuth in the Knives Out movies is worlds away from the antihero employed in her majesty’s secret service. Embodying Burroughs’ alter ego and cycling through Lee’s lust, jealousy, world-weariness, neediness, and bliss, Craig cracks this smitten, doomed romantic wide open. It’s the role of a lifetime if you hold nothing back. So he doesn’t.

Queer doesn't have a wide release date yet, but it will screen at the New York Film Festival on October 6. You don't have to see it on the big screen, but you should definitely see it. Grade: B+ Daniel Craig: A+

Lady Gaga & Joaquin Phoenix in Joker: Folie à deux
 Photo: Giorgio Zucchiatti - La Biennale di Venezia ASAC

9. Joker: Folie à deux

I thought the first third of Joker: Folie à deux was promising, and that it might actually be as great and daring as the first Joker, which won the Golden Lion in 2019. Alas, it is not. It dwindles down into a repetitive courtroom drama with songs. 

From Owen Gleiberman at Variety again:

‘Joker: Folie à Deux’ Review: Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga Star in a Cracked Jukebox Musical — but It Doesn’t Let Joker Be Joker Enough

The concept is audacious but the execution less so in a movie that takes a step back from the danger of "Joker."

...As a critic, I’ve experienced my share of debates, but I have never understood the morally judgmental quality that hung over the criticisms of “Joker.” That the film invited us to have a deep identification with a twisted sociopath wasn’t, in my book, a weakness; it was a strength. (It’s for that same reason that I love “Bonnie and Clyde,” “Taxi Driver,” and “Natural Born Killers.”) The movie was, among other things, an allegory of the Trump era, but it’s almost as if the critics were saying, “We don’t like the movie because Arthur is a nasty incel who leads an uprising just like Trump!” To me, the criticisms of “Joker” were sort of comparable to a studio executive giving notes that basically said, “Jake LaMotta in ‘Raging Bull’ isn’t likable enough.”

Did the critics, with “Joker,” turn into cautious executive scolds? In my opinion, they did. But the upshot is that Todd Phillips, making what I think is a huge mistake, listened to them.

It's sad to watch the world become homogenized again, and Joker along with it. Sure, go see Joker: Folie à deux. Dress up as Joker for Halloween. But don't expect to see the transformational film we saw the first time. Joker 2 is scheduled to be released domestically in the US on October 4. Grade: B-

10. TWST/Things We Said Today

Another Beatles documentary, this time set in 1965 and the build-up to Fab Four's concert at Shea Stadium in August. I was 10 years old at the time. Romanian director Andrei Ujica is four years older than I am. It is always interesting to see the impact that the Beatles had on people of that time, the world over. 

In order to tell the story, Ujica uses animated drawn teenage figures of real-life New York City budding writer and poet Geoffrey O'Brien and real-life fan girl Judith Kristen, who are going to the concert. Then he uses archival material from the era, like the frenzy outside the Warwick Hotel in Manhattan, Watts riots in Los Angeles, Harlem, Jones Beach, and the 1964-65 World's Fair, which I, too, went to with my family. It was interesting to see the footage from my childhood again. And I would actually stay in the penthouse suite at the Warwick Hotel during a Christmas in the city. I enjoyed the nostalgia. 

From Marc van de Klashorst at the International Cinephile Society:

Venice 2024 review: TWST / Things We Said Today (Andrei Ujică)

“An intriguing and original way to look at our past and see how history is shaped once all the dust is blown off.”

The film definitely meanders at times, and while scenes of (predominantly white) people enjoying Jones Beach or shots of workers at New York’s fish market have their function, they do break up the narrative thrust Ujică introduces through his two ‘characters’.

Conceptually, TWST / Things We Said Today is an intriguing and original way to look at our past and see how history is shaped once all the dust is blown off. Its execution is artistically sound, but at times too unfocused to keep its ideas at the forefront. That doesn’t diminish the fact that this is a relevant work, but one can’t shake the feeling that another round of editing might have delivered a tighter film.

For me, the bar was set so high by One to One: John & Yoko that I couldn't work up the same amount of excitement for this film. The documentary has a release date of September 30, but I'm not sure where. Grade: B-

11. Kjarlighet (Love)

I didn't expect to enjoy this film by writer-director Dag Johan Haugerud from Norway as much as I did. It's conversational and character-driven, and nothing much happens except people experience the joy and sadness of human relationships. What's interesting is that the characters all have unique jobs that we don't often see on film: a straight female urologist and her gay male nurse; a straight male divorced geologist; a married female art historian who works for the city of Oslo.  

From Leslie Felperin at The Hollywood Reporter:

'Love' Review: A Charming and Intelligent Norwegian Dramedy to Win Over Hears and Minds

The film, about two colleagues with very different approaches to sex and romance, is the second in a planned thematic trilogy from writer-director Dag Johan Haugerud.

The unfussy camera setups by DP Cecilie Semec, lit so as to benefit from the low-angle sunlight of Nordic summer nights, unfurl in long languorous takes that just sit back and let the actors do all the work. Fortunately, the cast here is well up to the job, and the dialogue, especially between Hovig and Jacobsen, have a charming musicality about them, like bright duets. Along the way, the film makes some interesting points about friendship as well as romance, especially when it comes to studying the reaction of Marianne’s art historian friend Heidi (Marte Engebrigtsen), who is scandalized by Marianne’s adventures in zipless fucks. Love, to quote that woozy old ballad, is indeed a many-splendored thing that takes many forms — a multiplicity that Love the film is quietly alive to.

Love will be released on December 25 in Norway. At this time, there is no US distribution. I hope the next installment, Dreams, also premieres at the Venice Film Festival. And I'll keep my eye out for the first film in the trilogy, Sex. Grade: B+

Kevin Costner at Horizon: An American Saga press conference - Photo: Cat Bauer

I didn't see either Chapter 1 or the new Chapter 2 of Horizon: An American Saga because it was completely sold out on the last day of the Venice Film Festival. But I did go to the press conference because I wanted to see Kevin Costner. Years ago, around 1975, in Costa Mesa, California, Kevin Costner and I had the same acting coach, Greg Bach, before Kevin became famous. We filmed a scene on videotape (which included a kiss:-) and were part of a screening at someone's posh house in Laguna Beach with our parents as guests.

Kevin seemed an unlikely movie star back then, but he had a quiet, intense determination that shone through on the screen. He said he conceived of Horizon way back in 1988. In response to a question from a journalist, he said, "Horizon is not a message to my country. It's a reminder to my country of how difficult it was... that people made this journey across an angry Atlantic Ocean to start a new life. America moved by inches."

Kevin said that if a movie is authentic, it will live forever and stand the test of time. "I don't know how I'm going to make Chapter 3 right now, but I'm going to make it."

Until next year.

Ciao from Venezia,

Cat Bauer

Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog

"With My Eyes" - Inside the Women's Prison in Venice - The Powerful Biennale Art Pavilion of the Holy See

Courtyard of the Giudecca Women's Detention Home, Venice - Photo: Marco Cremascoli

(Venice, Italy) Have you ever been inside a prison? I hadn't, and certainly not a women's prison. At first, it was disconcerting. As I wandered through the passageways of the Venice Biennale art installation presented by the Vatican, a part of me felt like I was wearing the chains of Jacob Marley's ghost, even though we were moving freely as visitors to the penitentiary.

Brief History of Venice's Women's Prison

Venice's women's prison is inside an ancient monastery on the island of Giudecca. It is a singular and controversial venue for a contemporary art exhibition.

Several publications, including the New York Times, say the building was constructed in the 13th century. In fact, the Italian Ministry of Justice says it was probably founded in the 12th century. I cannot find any source to back that up. I am wondering if they are referring to the order of the Augustinian nuns themselves, whose monastery it was, or if there was once an older structure where the current one is now.

What everyone agrees on is that around 1530, the cloister became a hospice for reformed prostitutes called "Santa Maria Maddalena," and known as the "Convertite" or "Converted." The nucleus of the convent was built in 1543, and the church about 10 years later. Initially the reformed sex workers did not have to join the sisterhood. But just 20 years after its its foundation, taking the veil at the Convertite became mandatory -- vows of chastity, poverty, obedience -- the works. 

The monastery was suppressed by Napoleon in 1806 and turned into a military prison, until Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria transformed it into a women's prison in 1837. Today, The Casa di Reclusione Femminile is one of five female-only prisons in all of Italy.

 
I stumbled on a terrific article featuring the Giudecca convent by Professor Christine Scippa Bhasin entitled, "Prostitutes, Nuns, Actresses: Breaking the Convent Wall in Seventeenth-Century Venice." It seems that during Carnival 1681, a wealthy Venetian merchant named Giovanni Battista Cellini brought his concubine, Maddalena Farner, out to the convent on Giudecca to see a clandestine comedy performed by the nuns(!). After the performance, Cellini left Farner overnight in the convent, saying he would be back to get her in the morning.

Well, he never showed up. He was on his way to Amsterdam to serve as Venetian Consul, and had decided to dump Farner in the convent with the nuns against her will. We know this because Farner sued him. According to Bhasin, "...the merchant's choice of locale for a night out in Venice was not exceptional, nor was his choice of escort: by the late seventeenth century, Venetian female monasteries had been providing visitors, male and female, religious and lay, with theatrical entertainment for nearly two centuries."

 

Now, nearly 500 years later, the complex again welcomes visitors to its secluded premises in what could be titled, "Prisoners, Docents, Artists: Breaking the Prison Wall in Twenty-first Century Venice." From the press notes:

"Visits to the Pavilion, by reservation, led by the prisoner-docents, will challenge the desire for voyeurism and judgment toward artists and prisoners themselves, eroding the boundaries between observer and observed, judging and judged, to also reflect on power structures in art and institutions." 

Maurizio Cattelas, Father, for the 2024 Vatican Pavilion - Photo: Cat Bauer

With My Eyes

With the blessing of Pope Francis, With My Eyes (Con i miei occhi) is an experience designed to defy convention. It's the brainchild of Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonca, Prefect of the Holy See's Dicastery for Culture and Education, who is the Commissioner of the Pavilion.

The Cardinal commissioned two international dynamos on the art scene, Chiara Parisi and Bruno Racine to curate, who asked eight artists to participate: Maurizio Cattelan, Bintou Dembélé, Simone Fattal, Claire Fontaine, Sonia Gomes, Corits Kent, Marco Perego & Zoe Saldana, and Claire Tabouret. 

 

The title With My Eyes is inspired by the Book of Job, verse 42.5...

My ears had heard of you
    but now my eyes have seen you.

...combined with Shakespeare, Sonnet 14, in which the poet is enthralled by a woman who all his senses tell him is unattractive:

"The title With My Eyes is both disruptive and prophetic," said the Cardinal. "It's a step in a different cultural direction, questioning the current times when human vision is deferred and less direct, captured by screens and the explosion of digital devices. Will we still know what it is to 'see with our own eyes?'"

The answer is a definite yes. I have visited the Holy See Pavilion on the island of Giudecca twice now. The second experience was more profound than the first. With My Eyes is a groundbreaking artistic and social experiment. The prisoners are active participants, contributing their narratives and artistic voices to the exhibition, resulting in a deeply moving experience.

Where you stash your stuff - Photo: Cat Bauer

Arriving at the Prison

Before you even go to the prison, you have to make a reservation and provide detailed personal information and identification. On the day of your visit, you cluster outside an innocuous door, waiting to put all of your belongings -- everything -- inside a locker. No smartphone. No devices. No photos. No hand bag or purse. You are scanned with a hand-held metal detector. They did let me bring in a pen and a tiny notebook, but it took some persuading.

Even though you are assigned a ticket with a digital code after making a reservation, they don't ask to see it. Instead, a guard -- a real no-nonsense female prison guard -- takes your identification: a passport, or identification card. You get the feeling that you have already been run through some kind of security clearance. (Both times I've been to With My Eyes, people have been turned away for different reasons, so be sure you fill out the form properly. If you are approved, you will get a confirmation.)

Pope Francis on the first stop of his Venice pastoral visit to the Giudecca women's prison
Photo: Vatican News

The First Visit

The first time I visited was on April 25, three days before Pope Francis himself was due to visit Venice and Holy See Pavilion inside the women's prison, and anticipation was in the air. It was the first time any pope had ever visited the Venice Biennale International Art Exhibition, which was founded back in 1895 -- the original biennale on which every other biennale in world is modeled. The Pope's helicopter would land in the courtyard of the penitentiary. He would tour the exhibition, then speak and greet each inmate before traveling to Piazza San Marco to celebrate mass with more than 10,000 worshipers.

The exhibition had just opened to the public a few days earlier on April 20, and the experience was wobbling to its feet. The female guard unlocked the prison door with a large set of clunky keys that look like they belonged to another century.

Silk screen prints by the late activist nun Corita Kent in the cafeteria - Photo: Marco Cremascoli

Walking into the Holy See's pavilion is unlike any other artistic experience. The very act of stepping through the threshold of the Giudecca Women's Prison becomes the starting point. The weight of history hangs in the air. You can almost feel the phantoms of the nuns from centuries before gliding through the ancient corridors.

Our group of 25 was greeted by two female docents. We slowly realized that they were actual inmates. The tour was in Italian with no translation, with the two prisoners explaining the artworks and adding a few personal comments and remarks. 

After starting in the cafeteria filled with silk screen prints by the late American "Pop Art nun," Sister Mary Corita Kent, we made our way down a narrow brick passageway. Simone Fattal had painted the personal words of inmates -- some of desperation, some of hope -- onto slabs of lava stone along the way. A neon eye cut by a slash created by the Claire Fontaine collective punctuated the watchtower at the end of the passage.

Claire Fontaine - Photo: Marco Cremascoli

We arrived at a garden where the inmates cultivate organic vegetables and herbs that they sell to the outside world each week. The Garden of Wonders contains 6,000 square meters of terrain and produces around 40 types of fruit, vegetables, flowers, and wild herbs. The window that looks out onto the garden is the only one in the prison without bars. 

When we entered the enormous courtyard where the Pope's helicopter would land, there were about 30 prisoners sitting on the benches. We walked past them wordlessly, unsure if we were allowed to communicate with them. I spotted one inmate sitting alone in an upstairs barred window. I wondered how they felt having all these alien creatures from the outside walk through their private world.

We passed through a room where inmates could receive visitors and family, with a small playground outside the door. Then we were shepherded into a tiny screening room with just enough wooden benches to seat the group. The guard closed the door, and we watched a video, "Dovecote," by Marco Perego, starring his wife, Zoë Saldaña -- the only person in the cast who was not an inmate or a guard. 

The short film took us through a prisoner's final day before she was released out into the world. It was the only opportunity to have a glimpse of what it was really like behind the walls -- the group showers, lack of privacy, dormitory sleeping. It was another reminder that we were actually in a working prison, with real inmates who would not be leaving after the tour.

Portraits of inmates as children or of their own children by Claire Tabouret 
Photo: Marco Cremascoli

We reached the Chiesa di Santa Maria Maddalena delle Convertite at the end of the visit. The ancient church was in remarkably excellent condition. Woven sculptures of fabric, stones and buttons by Sonia Gomes dangled from the ceiling. Was this the space where Venetian nuns had performed clandestine comedies so many centuries before?

I joined a small splinter group where a woman was translating what the inmates were saying into English for some visitors who could not understand Italian. She turned out to be Flavia Chiavaroli, the architect and exhibition designer who oversees the project. I told her that I had been deeply moved by the exhibition. She said, "It's not an exhibition. It's an experience."

Indeed. I felt as if I had had a transformative experience, and wanted to return.

Sinfania by Sonia Gomes inside the Church of Santa Maria Maddalena delle Convertite
Photo: Marco Cremascoli

The Second Visit

I went back a month later with Janet Simmonds of the Grand Tourist, who has written about her own experience on The Educated Traveller blog. By that time, a rhythm had been established. The inmates were more relaxed at performing the role of docents, offering personal information and opinions. The ethical questions some publications had raised about the project melted away in the face of the raw human encounter. While the power dynamics of incarceration can't be ignored, the female inmates were dignified and eloquent as they shared their personal stories. They became spirit guides, not subjects. 

I particularly enjoyed listening to one woman, Marsella, from Columbia. Her descriptions of the artworks were peppered with insight and personality. This time, as we walked across the enormous courtyard, there were only a couple of other inmates sitting out on the benches.

I didn't know if it was allowed, but I caught up to Marsella, walking with her side by side, and speaking to her one-on-one. She seemed happy to interact. I wondered if we were both breaking some kind of rule, but I don’t think either one of us cared. Her observations had been so astute that I asked her if she were an artist herself. She said that she wrote poetry, but what she really wanted to do was write a book.

"Dovecote" by Marco Perego & Zoë Saldaña - Photo: Marco Cremascoli

Again, we shuffled into the theater to watch the short, poignant film by Marco Perego starring Zoë Saldaña. This time, I recognized one of our guards in a group scene. And just like the passage from Job 42.5, I suddenly saw with my own eyes what I had only heard about before.

When the was film over, I found Marsella outside in an area with grass. Where were we? Were we in the playground? (With only my own eyes, and no recording devices, I have to rely on my memories.) I spoke to her earnestly, privately again.

"Marsella, I am a writer. I think you should write your book right now. Now is the time. You are in the perfect environment, with plenty of time. Your story is fascinating. How did you end up in this prison in Venice all the way from Columbia? The world would be interested in your story. Look at how many visitors arrive here every day. Did you shake hands with the Pope?"

Marsella nodded. "Yes."

"It's a great story. Don't think of it as writing a whole book. That's too big. Just think of writing a certain amount of words every day -- say about 500. Don't worry if it's good or bad -- just write the words until it becomes a habit. Soon you will have a book. Right now, during the Biennale, you are surrounded by support. People will help you. You have been given a great opportunity. Others can learn from your experience."

We continued through the exhibition and the portraits of the inmate's children by Claire Tabouret. Marsella pointed out her own son, saying he was six at the time of the portrait, but was now 12. I wondered when she last saw him…

At the end, inside the Chiesa di Santa Maria Maddalena delle Convertite, we gathered in a circle to say farewell. Marsella commanded the attention of the group, and started speaking with emotion. She said she had had a moving experience and wanted to say thank you to someone. And then she crossed the circle and she handed me a tiny, delicate wildflower with five red-orange petals, deep green leaves, and a crown of gold.

I was stunned. Marsella and I hugged each other, eyes glistening with joy. I wiped away tears that sprung deep, deep from the well of humanity. 

Marsella’s wildflower

Now, months later, instead of a digital photograph on a smartphone, I have a tiny dried wildflower pressed like a butterfly into my tiny notebook that fits into my tiny purse that I carry with me at all times. Like Zuzu's petals, it reminds me of what's real, and how to see with my own eyes. 

On my way out, I gathered my things from the locker. The same guard that had guided us through the exhibition was there at the door. “I saw you in the movie,” I said. “You were good, very natural.” 

The no-nonsense guard cracked a smile.

I can't wait to read Marsella's book.

You can visit the Vatican Pavilion With My Eyes until November 24, 2024. Go to La Biennale di Venezia Art for more information.

Marsella’s dried wildflower 

Ciao from Venezia,
Cat Bauer
Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog

Titizé - A Dazzling Venetian Dream Takes Flight at Venice's Goldoni Theater

Titizé - A Venetian Dream - Photo: ©Viviana Cangialosi, Compagnia Finzi Pasca

(Venice, Italy) The historic Goldoni Theater, which was recently revitalized with a 2 million euro nip and tuck thanks to the Venice Comune, transforms into a dreamscape with Titizé - A Venetian Dream. The production is a dazzling world premiere that promises to amaze and enthrall an international audience, old and young.

The show was written and directed by the visionary Daniele Finzi Pasca, one of the founding members of the company of the same name, Compagnia Finzi Pasca, based in Lugano, Switzerland. In its 40 years of international activity the company has created over 40 shows -- including 3 Olympic ceremonies, 2 shows for Cirque du Soleil and 8 operas -- and has graced the stages of around 600 theaters and festivals in 46 countries around the world for over 15 million spectators.

Titizé - A Venetian Dream - Photo: Cat Bauer

Titizé - A Venetian Dream blends the timeless art of commedia dell’arte with impressive acrobatics and contemporary innovations, creating a multi-dimensional spectacle that celebrates the 400th anniversary (give or take:-) of the founding of the Goldoni Theater. The title (tee-tee-ZAY) is inspired by the Venetian language for "you are."

Music, orchestration and sound design are by Maria Bonzanigo; the set design by Hugo Gargiulo; associate set designer Matteo Verlicchi; costumes by Giovanna Buzzi; with a cast of talented and flexible performers: Alessandro Facciolo, Andrea Cerrato, Caterina Pio, Francesco Lanciotti, Gian Mattia Baldan, Giulia Scamarcia, Gloria Romanin, Leo Zappitelli, Luca Morrocchi, Micol Veglia, Rolando Tarquini.

Titizé - A Venetian Dream - Photo: ©Viviana Cangialosi, Compagnia Finzi Pasca

A Venetian Dreamscape

We were treated to a early dress rehearsal to give us a taste of the wonders in store when the show opens on July 18. It runs every Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday until October 10, and lasts for an hour and 20 minutes with no intermission. It will then tour internationally, returning to Venice in the summer of 2025.

The production is inspired by the ethereal essence of Venice, complete with masks, Pulcinella, harlequins, water, jugglers, fog, and the stuff of dreams. The music is hypnotic, the costumes are ravishing -- especially the mermaid soaring overhead with an impossibly long tail of 3 meters -- and the performers are astonishing. I was immediately bewitched by one fit fellow with impressive biceps and triceps who dangled his partner from an elaborate trapeze with just one arm around her waist!

Titizé - A Venetian Dream - Photo: ©Viviana Cangialosi, Compagnia Finzi Pasca

There is no story, and very little dialogue. The 18 different scenes are surreal and tumble into each other the way dreams do, with the magic of Venice, and the imagination and direction of Daniele Finzi Pasca, holding the performance together. 

The show blends traditional theater with innovative technology, creating some mind-blowing illusions as the actors appear upside down in a surreal rain shower gripping a Mary Poppins up-up-and-away umbrella on a large digital screen on one side of the stage, while, at the same time, the audience witnesses the tech tricks of the live performers, lying sideways, on the other side of the stage. (You have to see it:-)

Titizé - A Venetian Dream - Photo: ©Viviana Cangialosi, Compagnia Finzi Pasca

Titizé - A Venetian Dream is the perfect entertainment for all ages and nationalities on a summer night in Venice. It is an acrobatic theatre show co-produced by the Fondazione Teatro Stabile del Veneto – Teatro Nazionale and the Compagnia Finzi Pasca for the international stage of the Teatro Goldoni in Venice, in co-production with Compagnia Gli Ipocriti Melina Balsamo.

Go to the Teatro Stabile del Veneto for tickets and more information.

Ciao from Venezia,
Cat Bauer
Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog

I Hear the Water Dreaming by Li Chevalier at the Museum of Oriental Art, Venice. The Swan Song of Paolo De Grandis

Silent Woods II - Inspiration Dvorak by Li Chevalier - Photo: Cat Bauer

(Venice, Italy) On Friday morning, I climbed the grand staircase to the top floor of Ca' Pesaro, another vast palace in Venice on the Grand Canal. Ca' Pesaro is better known as Venice's International Gallery of Modern Art, and is part of MUVE, Venice's Civic Museums.

I had been invited to the opening of I Hear the Water Dreaming by the French-Chinese artist, Li Chevalier, curated by Paolo De Grandis and Carlotta Scarpa. 

I went mostly because I wanted to see Paolo De Grandis, whom I have known for years. Nearly everyone involved in the arts and culture of Venice knows Paolo De Grandis. Paolo De Grandis is an institution and a force of nature. Paolo had been ill, and I wanted to know if he was okay.

In quirky Venice, the top floor of Ca' Pesaro, is actually not part of the local MUVE museum system. It belongs to the Museum of Oriental Art (MOAV), one of the largest collections in Europe of Japanese art from the Edo period. The Museum of Oriental Art falls under the dominion of the Italian Minister of Culture. Luckily, that puts it in the hands of Daniele Ferrara, who is in charge of Italian museums in the Veneto, and is very cool.

Paolo wasn't there. So I spoke to Carlotta Scarpa, the co-curator, who is molto simpatica. Paolo was still ill. I became very emotional. We had a profound exchange. I knew Paolo had cancer, but I didn't know what kind. It was lung cancer. Carla said that Paolo would get better. I said I would say a prayer. 

Dark is life, Dark is death
Song of the Earth
by Li Chevalier
Photo: Cat Bauer

This morning, May 12, 2024, on Facebook, Leonardo De Grandis, Paolo's son, posted a beautiful image of dawn breaking over the sea, and said that his father, Paolo De Grandis, had left us.

Today is a significant day in Venice. Not only is it Mother's Day, and Ascension Day, it is Festa della Sensa, the day that Venice marries the sea. If one could choose a day to die in Venice, leaving the Earth on the same day that Jesus Christ ascended to heaven and that Venice married the sea is just about one of the best. (UPDATE: I just learned the actual time of death was on May 11.)

Paolo De Grandis with son Leonardo at "Allegory of Dreams"
La Biennale di Venezia Collateral Event from Macoa, China
Photo: Cat Bauer - April, 2022

I Hear the Water Dreaming

It took me some time to comprehend the complex universe Li Chevalier had conjured up with the 30 ink-on-canvas works she had created as a tribute to Venice, where she had begun her art education. The works were utterly distinct -- not only in the way she created them with ink and canvas and sand and paper, but in combining the Eastern and Western elements of her life. Li Chevalier transported ancient traditional Chinese ink painting into the 21st century. When I grasped the depth of spirit that went into her works of art, I was awestruck.

Born in China on March 30, 1961, Li Chevalier left Beijing in 1984, becoming a French citizen in 1986. She now works between Europe and Asia.

The ink-on-canvas works were inspired by the music of the Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu and the winter mist of the Venetian lagoon. When I asked Li Chevalier to elaborate, she said that the Chinese mind is not a binary "yes" or "no." It is both "yes" and "no" at the same time. It is misty like the fog on a Venetian winter's day when you can't tell where a palace begins and the water ends.

Carlotta Scarpa, Daniele Ferrara, Marta Boscolo Marchi, Li Chevalier
Photo: Cat Bauer

Here are the words of Paolo De Grandis from the catalogue of I Hear the Water Dreaming that I translated to English from Italian and French. The exhibition is poignant and wise, and a beautiful swan song. 

A Voyage to Venice with Li Chevalier
by Paolo De Grandis

Meeting Li Chevalier in 2016 was a moment of deep inspiration. I was immediately fascinated by her incredible personal experiences and her remarkable artistic practice.

From that moment, a close collaboration was born, which gradually transformed into a mutual desire to organize a solo exhibition in Venice.

This ambitious project underwent two crucial stages -- two key moments where the public could appreciate the talent of Li Chevalier and her unique approach to painting: OPEN International Exhibition of Sculptures and Installations in Venice and Trajectory of Desire at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome (MARCO).

The enthusiasm aroused by these experiences fueled our determination to carry out a project of a larger and more significant exhibition in Venice, a city steeped in history and culture that inspired Li Chevalier so much in her artistic training.

Now, after seven years of commitment and passion, thanks to the support of Daniele Ferrara, Director of the Veneto Regional Museums Directorate, and the enlightened vision of Marta Boscolo Marchi, Director of the Museum of Oriental Art of Venice, we find ourselves with the unique opportunity to present I Hear the Water Dreaming. It is not just the culmination of years of work and dedication, but a moment of celebration of one of the most profound expressions of intercultural art.

The exhibition is presented in the form of an in situ installation which establishes an unprecedented dialogue with the prestigious collection of the Museo d'Arte Orientale, one of the most important collections of Japanese art from the Edo period (1603-1868) in Europe. The exhibition rooms fuse Oriental works of art with the private spaces of a rococo residence, resulting in an aesthetic experience of extraordinary impact. This mix of styles and atmospheres lends itself magnificently to hosting temporary exhibitions. 

In her recent works, Li Chevalier captures the music of Japanese composer Toru Takmitsu, together with inspiration from the Venice lagoon. In fact, her works on canvas represent the fusion between Chinese ink and the very essence of the composition and peculiar materials of European painting.

The exhibition is a unique opportunity to immerse ourselves in the essence of Venice through the lens of Li Chevalier, a journey that starts from afar and invites us to look beyond the surface of the city... to penetrate the water that supports it... the perpetual motion that laps the shores of the lagoon... to relive atmospheres and sensations of a past that is still alive -- a centuries-old message of serenity and beauty.

You can witness I Hear the Water Dreaming until September 15, 2024. Go to PDG Arte Communications for more information.

Rest with the angels, dear Paolo De Grandis. Thank you for all the beauty and inspiration you brought to Venice from diverse cultures all over the world. You made a great impact on so many people's lives, and touched us deeply with your humanity.

Ciao from Venezia,

Cat Bauer

Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog