Every film festival showcases its collection of biopics and “based on a true story” films and the 82nd Venice Film Festival was no different. In The Stranger (L’Étranger), French director François Ozon’s new adaptation of Albert Camus’s classic novel, a lawyer questions the representation of facts regarding his client: “All is true, and nothing is true?” Meanwhile, Valérie Donzelli’s At Work (À Pied D’œuvre), which won the Best Screenplay award, tells the story of a former renowned photographer-turned-writer who grapples with social decline while working on his next book. Jean-Luc Godard once said cinema was “truth 24 times a second”, a beautiful notion, and though sometimes it falls short, it also, occasionally, exceeds this idea.
The true stories filmmakers choose to portray may not be globally well-known, but their universality can be profound. This is exemplified by the distinctly Italian tale presented by Marco Bellocchio in his new series Portobello (the first two episodes were screened out of competition). In the Seventies, a prominent Italian journalist and TV host was accused of corruption and drug dealing by a repentant mafia member, leading to his arrest and imprisonment. Bellocchio’s depiction of this story of how truth can be obscured by media pressure strongly resonates today with the overwhelming influence of social media. This theme is also apparent in the “astonishing yet true” hostage situation depicted by Gus Van Sant in Dead Man’s Wire. Set in the same era in Indianapolis, it follows Tony Kiritsis, “just a little guy” who, driven by despair, abducted a loan company executive he blamed for his financial ruin. Publicising his actions on radio and followed by a TV crew, the “little guy” quickly gained nationwide fame, and the American director of Elephant traces his journey with a remarkable and occasionally humorous exploration of what it means to “exist in the world’s eyes.”
In the realm of biographies, the official competition featured Duse by Pietro Marcello, focusing on the famous Italian theatre actress (1858-1924) during her later years, as she attempts to return to the stage after retirement and World War I. Valeria Bruni Tedeschi captures this divine character with skill and nuance. Meanwhile, in a different sphere of celebrity, The Smashing Machine by Benny Safdie (Silver Lion for Best Director) chronicles the pivotal years in the life of MMA champion Mar Kerr (born in 1968). Dwayne Johnson, aka The Rock, an ex-wrestler turned actor, portrays Kerr with both strength and subtlety. An actress playing an actress, a wrestler portraying a wrestler—these performances emerge from an inner truth.
Exploring what cinema can offer reality and vice versa, The Voice of Hind Rajab (Sawt Hind Rajab) by Kaouther Ben Hania is undoubtedly an extreme example. Awarded the Grand Jury Prize, this poignant depiction of events in Gaza in January 2024 when Hind Rajab, a five-year-old girl, was trapped in a car surrounded by the bodies of her family and within shooting range of an Israeli tank is both gripping and heart-breaking. Like her previous movie, Four Daughters (Les Filles d’Olfa), the director consistently mixes facts and fiction intertwined to dizzying effect. As viewers, we all know Hind’s fate. The film revisits the harrowing events from within: actors portray the Palestinian Red Crescent members who were alerted and spoke to the little girl for three hours, struggling to obtain permission to send an ambulance and rescue her. Her voice is heard: a thin white line oscillates on a black screen. Hind Rajab is only seen in photos sent by her mother to the rescue team. The result is unsettling, compelling, and innovative. The authenticity of the voice, the inability to hide behind fiction, despite the rest of the film reinterpreting the facts, makes The Voice of Hind Rajab a singular cinematic experience, an unforgettable testament to truth. The unbearable truth.
By Isabelle Danel
Edited by Rita Di Santo
@FIPRESCI 2025