Not since Siskel and Ebert’s thumbs has the human hand held such sway over film.
Photo: Stefania D’Alessandro/WireImage
Is everyone ready to get your clap on? Venice International Film Festival 2025 began on August 27, and with it comes breathless reportage of just how long the applause lasts for each premiere. Since nothing can capture the magic of cinema quite like an Excel spreadsheet, we take the reported times and average them together. Why? Because we’re meanies (math pun). And because the times can vary wildly outlet to outlet; Variety is stingiest with its times, while Deadline is often quite generous.
Although not as claphappy as the Cannes Film Festival, Venice still has quite the history of showing appreciation. But does it actually translate to wider acclaim post-festival season? Last year, Pedro Almodóvar’s The Room Next Door broke Venice’s record (previously held by The Banshees of Inisherin) with 17.5 minutes, but the movie wasn’t even in the awards conversation for that long. However, the second-most-applauded film of Venice 2024 was The Brutalist, for which Adrien Brody ultimately won the Best Actor Oscar. MFL players, take note of the Venice Film Festival 2025 Standing-O-Meter.
Paolo Sorrentino’s fable about a detached yet highly moral Italian prime minister opened the festival. Its ovation was restrained and respectable, much like the film’s protagonist. Variety clocked the ovation at four minutes, while Deadline was more generous with six minutes and 20 seconds.
The latest from Luca Guadagnino only got between five and six minutes of applause — which is a little surprising given that Julia Roberts was in the room. Big-name celebs tend to up the applause length. Everyone wants another moment like Brendan Fraser tearing up at The Whale screening.
Venice liked Emma Stone’s turn as a bald alien (allegedly) in the Yorgos Lanthimos thriller Bugonia. Stone, Lanthimos, and 2023 Vulture Comedian You Should Know Stavros Halkias basked in applause for either six minutes 50 seconds, per Deadline, or six minutes flat, per THR and Variety.
The latest from Park Chan-wook was greeted warmly in Venice (and reviewed well in Vulture). The film is about a man in crisis after mergers and buyouts take out his job at a paper company. In 2025, no story may be more relatable. Variety clocked the applause at 6 minutes, while Deadline was more bullish with 8 1/2.
Oscar Isaac made his second appearance on the Lido, this time for his starring role in Julian Schnabel’s Dante Alighieri/Nick Tosches dual biopic. Deadline timed the applause for In the Hand of Dante at 9.5 minutes, while Variety and The Hollywood Reporter said it was only 8.
It’s official: Every country loves to see Adam Sandler. Jay Kelly, the new film from Noah Baumbach starring Sandler and George Clooney, has topped day one of the Standing-O-Meter with 9.5 minutes of applause. Deadline and THR both clocked the applause at ten minutes, while Variety thought it merely 8.5 minutes of ovation.
Olivier Assayas is bringing us political intrigue, and Venice ate it up. Considering how he’s skewered the politics of the film industry, it’s exciting to see how he’ll take on the politics of, uh, politics. Deadline clocked the ovation at 11.7 minutes, Variety said only 10, and THR refused to assign a number, saying only that the film drew “the customary standing ovation.” Weird!
Kathryn Bigelow’s 11th feature film also earns her 11 mins of cheer. Deadline reported a 13-minute applause while THR and Variety both gave out 11 minutes, giving an average of 11.6 mins.
The latest from Gus Van Sant, starring Colman Domingo and Bill Skarsgård, clocked 12.25 minutes of claps. That’s nearly twice what other kidnapping story Bugonia got earlier in Venice. Maybe audiences found this anticapitalist tale more compelling.
Guillermo Del Toro did well on the Standing-O-Meter leaderboard with his take on Mary Shelly’s genre-creating creature feature. Jacob Elordi and Oscar Isaac shared a teary hug during the approximately 14-minute applause break. Deadline said it was 15 minutes, Variety 13, and THR in median with 14.
The Smashing Machine, starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, was one of two 15-minute standing ovations on Labor Day. Both Deadline and Variety reported Johnson getting emotional as he received the honor.
Mona Fastvold is beating her own record; after getting a 12.7-minute applause for The Brutalist last year, The Testament of Ann Lee got a 15-minute standing ovation, something all the trades can agree on.
The true story of 5-year-old Palestinian Hind Rajab got the longest ovation of the festival so far, somewhere between 21 (THR’s count) and 23 minutes (Deadline). Variety reported that applause for the film continued even after the theater’s lights were dimmed. Actor Motaz Malhees accepted a Palestinian flag from the audience as people chanted “Free Palestine.”
