Woody Allen attends Venice Film Festival with wife Soon-Yi Previn amid controversial reception

So far, Woody Allen's run at the Venice International Film Festival has been a whirlwind of adulation and controversy.

The disgraced director was in Venice, Italy, over the long weekend to debut his latest film, the French dramedy "Coup de Chance." Allen made the film’s red carpet Monday a family affair, making a rare appearance with wife Soon-Yi Previn and daughters Bechet and Manzie.

Allen and Previn were nearly matching in black formalwear, while Manzie wore a red dress with a navy blue bow and Bechet a white dress with a chain belt.

"Coup de Chance" received an enthusiastic reception at the festival, with viewers giving Allen and his film a three-minute standing ovation following its showing, according to video provided by Variety.

"I've been very lucky with my filmmaking and have had over my lifetime much undeserved praise and (an) enormous amount of attention and respect," said Allen at a press conference ahead of the film's premiere. "So, I have nothing but good fortune, and I hope it holds out."

But Allen's appearance at the Venice Film Festival was also met with opposition.

According to video obtained by Variety, a group of protesters reportedly marched outside the "Coup de Chance" premiere.

"This year the Biennale Venice Film Festival has decided to give space to Woody Allen, Luc Besson and Roman Polanski, three directors involved in sexual violence against women, including minors," a flyer seemingly made by protesters read, film journalist Luke Hearfield shared on X.

Allen has become the subject of controversy in recent years after his adoptive daughter Dylan Farrow's allegations of sexual abuse resurfaced in the wake of the #MeToo movement. Farrow has long maintained that Allen molested her when she was a child, discussing the alleged assault in articles and on camera, including Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering's HBO docuseries "Allen v. Farrow."

Allen has consistently denied the allegations and has not been criminally charged.

Allen's last directorial feature was the 2020 romantic comedy "Rifkin's Festival," starring Wallace Shawn, Michael Garvey and Damian Chapa. "Coup de Chance" marks the Oscar-winning director's 50th film. In a September 2022 interview with Spanish publication La Vanguardia, the 87-year-old said he planned to focus more on his writing career after production wrapped on the film.

Allen previously discussed scaling back on filmmaking during an Instagram Live session with actor Alec Baldwin in June 2022, telling Baldwin "a lot of the thrill is gone because it doesn't have the whole cinema effect."

"When I started, you'd do a film and it would go into movie houses all over the country and people would come by the hundreds to watch it in big groups on the big screen," Allen said. "Now, you do a movie and you get a couple of weeks in a movie house…and then it goes right to streaming."

'That's a good time to stop': Woody Allen says 50th film will be his last

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Contributing: Pamela Avila, USA TODAY

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Woody Allen stirs controversy, brings family to Venice Film Festival