French filmmaker Florian Zeller has returned with a new feature, Bunker, starring Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem, which earned a 16-minute ovation this evening after its debut screening at the Venice Film Festival.
There was a very enthusiastic response to the movie in the room, with Cruz and Bardem sharing hugs during the applause and woos from the crowd. The 16-minute 30 second ovation takes it beyond the 14-minute ovation scored by Wild Horse Nine earlier in the festival and makes it one of the longest ever at the Venice Film Festival.
The psychological thriller, which Zeller wrote, produced, and directed, follows the emotional and moral challenges faced by a couple. Bardem plays Miguel, a successful London architect, who considers a prestigious offer to build a survivalist bunker for a tech billionaire. The project causes his wife, Sofia (Cruz), to question their relationship of 17 years as they are drawn deeper into a life of extreme wealth, paranoia, and fear. The intrusion of an unsettling neighbor becomes another source of anxiety.
Additional cast includes Stephen Graham (Adolescence), Paul Dano (There Will Be Blood), and Patrick Schwarzenegger (The White Lotus). The French-Spanish co-production is produced by Federica Sainte-Rose, Zeller for Blue Morning Pictures, Fernando Bovaira and Simon de Santiago of MOD Producciones, and Alice Dawson. Pathé’s Ardavan Safaee and Mediawan’s Pierre-Antoine Capton serve as co-producers.
In the director’s statement he wrote for Venice, Zeller said he specifically wrote Bunker for Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem, who he describes as the “starting point and inspiration” for the project.
“Not only because they are among the most gifted actors working today, but also because they are an iconic couple. I wanted to explore love, fidelity, and forgiveness while placing the audience in a position of deliberate ambiguity,” Zeller wrote. “What exactly are we being invited to witness? A glimpse of reality? Fiction? Or a meta-examination of the truth?”
Bunker is Zeller’s first title since The Son (2021), which also debuted at Venice.
Earlier this year, Sony Pictures Classics acquired North American, Southeast Asian, and worldwide airline rights (excluding France) on Bunker. The film continues SPC’s relationship with Zeller that dates back to the release of his first film, Oscar winner The Father, and his second film The Son.
FilmNation Entertainment is handling international sales on the film while CAA Media Finance and WME repped domestic rights. Pathé is set to distribute the film in France, Switzerland, and West Africa.
