Throughout the film, the Venice premiere crowd alternated between stunned silence and bouts of laughter in reaction to the story’s explosive violence, slapstick physical comedy, and timely satirical jabs.

 

Bugonia finds Stone starring Plemons and fellow cast members Aidan Delbis, Stavros Halkias and Alicia Silverstone.

A remake of Korean director Jang Joon Hwan’s 2001 cult classic Save the Green Planet!, Lanthimos’s film follows two conspiracy-obsessed young men who kidnap the high-powered CEO of a major company, convinced that she is an alien intent on destroying planet Earth.

The Focus Features release is one of the more hotly anticipated titles here on the Lido as it marks yet another reteaming of Lanthimos and his muse following their critically acclaimed Poor Things. That film won four Oscars, including a second best actress prize for Stone, and best achievement in production design for James Price, Shona Heath and Zsusza Mihalek, costume design for Holly Waddington and makeup and hairstyling for Nadia Stacey, Mark Coulier and Josh Weston.

Bugonia follows a more recent partnership, Kinds of Kindness, which debuted at the Cannes Film Fest to a more divisive critical response.

Bugonia could mark a return to mainstream embrace for the duo, due to its shocking premise, powerful performances and zeitgeist-skewering themes and flourishes.