The Spiral

The most intriguing poster lining the alameda of the Lido’s festival grounds this year has to be The Spiral‘s: it displays an impeccably staged family portrait, where even the dog appears to be smiling at the camera; however, the picture-perfect image is torn in half. The rip ominously forms a black bar over the mother’s eyes, not unlike those often used by media to conceal someone’s identity. Without knowing anything about the plot, one can sense that tragedy has befallen these seemingly carefree people.

This ominous mother is played by Jasmine Trinca (who also stars in another Italian Golden Lion contender, It Will Happen Tonight). In 2026, she arrives in Rome amid a devastating deluge of rain, and springs an eerie confession on her daughter: her memories of her childhood are all based on a lie. The agitated woman goes on to reveal that a series of catastrophes, which anyone would be quick to dismiss as coincidence, are in fact mysteriously intertwined – and it all began when the household got their English Bull Terrier.

The past few years have seen an influx of body horror, particularly from young, female directors, exploring the psychological burden of beauty and the pressure to conform to society’s expectations of how one ought to look. Paolo Strippoli, however, traces these anxieties back to where they first take shape: the people who raise us. A scene that hints at the direction the film is headed asks a disturbing question: would one rather have an amputee daughter or an overweight son?

There is an acidic humour in the shallow concerns of these privileged parents that the film taps into and gleefully mines as the basis for increasingly unwise decisions. The feature amps up its dramatic effects, introducing a pivotal figure (played by the devilishly alluring Valeria Bruni Tedeschi) with a slow focus pull from her cigarette to her face, not unlike how a Bond villain might enter the scene. The dynamic between the two women is spellbinding.

Marrying family drama with genre elements, The Spiral is a dark fable attuned to the zeitgeist, arriving on the heels of another picture built around the warning to “be careful what you wish for”, which is currently breaking box-office records. With its outrageous turns coming thick and fast, while never losing sight of its internal logic, this nightmare-fairy tale is simply a blast to watch.

Only a year ago, Strippoli presented supernatural thriller The Holy Boy out of competition in Venice; now he has a shot at one of the festival’s prestigious awards.

It’s films like these that resuscitate a festival, when the proceedings have grown too self-serious. As important as it is for filmmakers to confront real-world issues in their art, the magic of cinema can just as readily be found in the bombast and exuberance of a macabre crowd-pleaser like The Spiral.

Selina Sondermann

Read more reviews from our Venice Film Festival 2026 coverage here.

For further information about the event, visit the Venice Film Festival website here.