VENICE - An apocalyptic satire starring Emma Stone took the spotlight at the Venice Film Festival.
Oscar winner Stone and director Yorgos Lanthimos were in fine form as they appeared in front of the media and on the red carpet together, with their latest production earning rave reviews.
The duo, working together for a fifth feature, are hoping to repeat their successful formula from 2023 when "Poor Things" nabbed Venice's top Golden Lion prize.
The Greek director told journalists he hoped his "Bugonia" would "trigger people" to think more about human extinction.
His high-energy film warns of the dangers of conspiracy theories, online echo chambers, the disappearance of bees, and a host of societal ills, including rural poverty and climate change.
Variety called it "riveting", saying Lanthimos was "at the top of his visionary nihilistic game", while Time magazine said Stone could "do no wrong".
The 36-year-old double Oscar winner plays a pharmaceutical executive kidnapped by a marginalised pair of misfits convinced she is destroying the world as an alien.
"Humanity is facing a reckoning," Lanthimos said. "People need to choose the right path in many ways. Otherwise, I don't know how much time we have."
Lanthimos's trademark absurdist humour is on display, alongside occasional graphic violence, in a work that also turns a sympathetic eye on the kidnappers.
Jesse Plemons, who plays the kidnapping mastermind in the movie, said he had tried to understand conspiracy theorists, who are often self-radicalised online.
"I think there's a risk in writing them off as being non-human," he said.