Paul Schrader and the cast of The Basics of Philosophy got a warm reception at the film’s world premiere in Venice Friday night, with the 80-year-old director choking up as the credits rolled and the applause rose.
The Basics of Philosophy stars Jack Huston as John Jorissen, a philosophy professor in a small liberal arts college whose meticulously ordered life conceals a long-buried transgression. When the person he wronged unexpectedly reappears, Jorissen is thrown into an existential reckoning, and wracked with both guilt and desire.
Sofia Boutella plays Becca, Jorissen’s partner and colleague. Daniel Zovatto, Bill Pullman and Dana Delany co-star, alongside Shiloh Fernandez, Karl Glusman and Elizabeth Petruso. Martin Scorsese, who directed several of Schrader’s screenplays, most famously Taxi Driver, Raging Bull and The Last Temptation of Christ, is executive producing the film, as he last did with Schrader’s The Card Counter (2021).
The film’s sombre tone and subject matter likely put a damper on the Lido crowd’s reaction, but the movie was well received, with the audience rising for a standing ovation, clapping warmly for four minutes. During the ovation, Schrader stood up stoically and grew emotional, with tears swelling in his eyes. He received an embrace from star Huston who offered his own applause in Schrader’s direction.
The Basics of Philosophy continues Schrader’s obsession with the “Man in the Room” — the trope, first manifested in Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver, that he has returned to again and again throughout his career.
“He’s the loner who keeps his own company, keeps a diary and wears a mask, which is his profession,” Schrader told THR of his archetype character. “He began his journey as a taxi driver, then was an escort [in American Gigolo], a drug delivery boy [Light Sleeper], a police officer [in Affliction], a minister [First Reformed], a poker player [The Card Counter] and a gardener [Master Gardener]. Now he’s a professor of philosophy.”
With his latest run of “man in the room” films, including First Reformed (2017), The Card Counter (2021) and Master Gardener (2022), all of which premiered in Venice, Schrader is enjoying a late career critical revival. First Reformed brought Schrader his first Oscar nomination, for original screenplay, at 71.
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