Marinelli, Vikander Star in Pallaoro's Venice Drama — SkimNews
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- Andrea Pallaoro directs "The Echo Chamber," his fourth feature film, adapting the final screenplay of Oscar-winning filmmaker Bernardo Bertolucci before his death, with the review noting the late master's ghost is "all over this movie."
- Luca Marinelli stars as Leo, a music producer and drug addict living in London's Eaton Place, in a performance the review calls potentially the best of his career.
- Alicia Vikander plays Anne, the osteopathic physician whose codependency with Leo drives the plot — breaking into his apartment, watching him sleep, and bringing him opioids to keep him in her orbit.
- Susan Sarandon appears as Ava, a once-popular '80s singer with a dissipated voice whose collaboration with the 87-days-sober Leo anchors the film's present-day timeline.
- The film is set entirely within one London flat, drawing direct comparisons to Bertolucci's "Last Tango in Paris" and described as evoking "the lost 1990s arthouse."
- "The Echo Chamber" premiered at the 2026 Venice Film Festival and is currently seeking U.S. distribution.
Why it matters: This film carries the weight of being Bernardo Bertolucci's final screenplay — a posthumous release from an Oscar-winning grandmaster — and its Venice debut with two of European cinema's most acclaimed stars (Marinelli from "Martin Eden," Vikander from "Irma Vep") establishes serious arthouse pedigree. With the film still seeking U.S. distribution, wider audiences may have to wait to see whether Marinelli's performance — pegged as career-best by the review — reaches the platform it deserves.
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