Overview

• The film premiered in Venice’s Orizzonti section to a strong audience response and a post-screening Q&A with Kent Jones, Willem Dafoe and Greta Lee.
• Critics widely single out Dafoe’s understated turn as retired poet Ed Saxberger, even as views differ on the film’s narrative heft and character depth.
• Director Kent Jones works from Samy Burch’s modernized screenplay updating Arthur Schnitzler’s 1895 novella to present-day New York’s art milieu.
• Jones and Burch revised the script after Dafoe joined to fit his New York era, and Jones wrote the poem performed in the film.
• Greta Lee joined after Sandra Hüller exited due to scheduling, with the project backed by Killer Films, executive producer Martin Scorsese and international sales handled by mk2; NYFF screenings are slated for September 28–29.