After ‘Bunker’ Scores a Huge Venice Ovation, Will the Film and Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem Be Major Oscar Contenders?

The audience at the world premiere of “Bunker” must have been seeing stars, reportedly awarding the marital drama and Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz, the Hollywood couple at the center of it, with the longest applause by far of any other film at the 83rd Venice Film Festival.

The glowing response took critics, who had seen the film earlier in the day, by surprise. They had given it a tepid reception, albeit one that was warmer than the savage takedowns that greeted Florian Zeller’s previous film “The Son.” Still, the kinder notices were nowhere close to the acclaim that Zeller’s first film, “The Father,” enjoyed. It would go on to earn the French playwright-turned-filmmaker an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay in 2021, as well as a Best Actor prize for Anthony Hopkins.

So when considering the Oscar chances for “Bunker,” which camp is right about the upcoming Sony Pictures Classics release? The answer is somewhere in the middle. Anecdotally, there’s already a critic or two whispering to peers “Well, I kind of liked it.” But word from the premiere was that the applause was mostly out of excitement over having the glamorous Bardem and Cruz in attendance. Even Venice’s artistic director Alberto Barbera was said to have led another round of cheers for them on premiere night.

As to how “Bunker” became the rare film where the Spanish stars play opposite each other, Zeller said at a festival press conference that he felt ” … it would be a unique way to capture something special as a real couple, to give layers to all the scenes of this film, to blur the line of course between a reality and fiction.”

The director wrote the script with the two stars in mind. In it, they play a couple whose marriage is at an impasse when the architect husband accepts a gig building a luxury bunker for a tech billionaire. Both actors give strong performances, but the film will mainly supplement Bardem and Cruz’s other Oscar campaigns. It seems unlikely that “Bunker” will be the film that earns them a nomination. In fact, “Bunker” draws parallels to Cruz’s strongest performance of a prolific year that has already seen her star in four films: Sundance hit “The Invite,” released by A24. It is another domestic dramedy that sees the “Vicky Christina Barcelona” actress once again process what makes a marriage last.

Bardem has the more comedic side of the equation, a flavor of performance often overlooked by the Academy, but when juxtaposed with his big performance from Cannes this year, in “The Beloved,” which will have an awards-qualifying run helmed by distributor Kino Lorber. That film solidifies the “No Country for Old Men” actor’s formidable range. 

‘Bunker’Sony Pictures Classics

In terms of the supporting cast, recent Emmy winner Stephen Graham has maybe the most frustrating role as a creepy neighbor, but pulls it off just fine. But Paul Dano’s one scene in the film as a shadowy tech mogul is ultimately the strongest performance overall, providing some social commentary at a time when we’re growing increasingly worried about Silicon Valley oligarchs. Dano is the closest “Bunker” gets to having a supporting performance in the awards conversation.

Going into Venice, just on prestige and star power alone, it looked like “Bunker” would be Sony Pictures Classics’ top Oscar contender, and that line of thinking is what likely gave the film that big post-premiere reaction that all competition films want. But Sony Pictures Classics has stronger bids for major Oscar contention, like John Turturro as the title character in “The Only Living Pickpocket in New York,” or possibly “A Statement” from Oscar-winner Tom McCarthy, which opens at the New York Film Festival. 

If “Bunker” were to win the Golden Lion, its Oscar potential could rise, but the last two films to win the same festival honor, propelled by a strong post-premiere reaction, still ended up without any Academy Award nominations.