\n\tPaul Schrader and the cast of The Basics of Philosophy got a warm reception at the film\u2019s world premiere in Venice Friday night, with the 80-year-old director choking up as the credits rolled and the applause rose. <\/p>\n
\n\tThe Basics of Philosophy<\/a>\u00a0stars\u00a0Jack Huston<\/a>\u00a0as John Jorissen, a philosophy professor in a small liberal arts college whose meticulously ordered life conceals a long-buried transgression. When the person he wronged unexpectedly reappears, Jorissen is thrown into an existential reckoning, and wracked with both guilt and desire. <\/p>\n \n\tSofia Boutella plays Becca, Jorissen\u2019s partner and colleague. Daniel Zovatto, Bill Pullman and Dana Delany co-star, alongside Shiloh Fernandez, Karl Glusman and Elizabeth Petruso. Martin Scorsese, who directed several of Schrader\u2019s screenplays, most famously\u00a0Taxi Driver,\u00a0Raging Bull\u00a0and\u00a0The Last Temptation of Christ, is executive producing the film, as he last did with Schrader\u2019s The Card Counter (2021). <\/p>\n \n\tThe film\u2019s sombre tone and subject matter likely put a damper on the Lido crowd\u2019s reaction, but the movie was well received, with the audience rising for a standing ovation, clapping warmly for four minutes. During the ovation, Schrader stood up stoically and grew emotional, with tears swelling in his eyes. He received an embrace from star Huston who offered his own applause in Schrader\u2019s direction. <\/p>\n Paul Schrader gets choked up during the 4-minute standing ovation following the world premiere his film \u2018The Basics of Philosophy\u2019 at the Venice Film Festival. The drama stars Jack Huston, Sofia Boutella, Bill Pullman, Dana Delany, Daniel Zovatto and others. pic.twitter.com\/nYuoANMTLD<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) September 4, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n \n\tThe Basics of Philosophy continues Schrader\u2019s obsession with the \u201cMan in the Room\u201d \u2014 the trope, first manifested in Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver, that he has returned to again and again throughout his career.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cHe\u2019s the loner who keeps his own company, keeps a diary and wears a mask, which is his profession,\u201d Schrader told THR of his archetype character<\/a>. \u201cHe began his journey as a taxi driver, then was an escort [in\u00a0American Gigolo], a drug delivery boy [Light Sleeper], a police officer [in\u00a0Affliction], a minister [First Reformed], a poker player [The Card Counter] and a gardener [Master Gardener]. Now he\u2019s a professor of philosophy.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tWith his latest run of \u201cman in the room\u201d films, including\u00a0First Reformed\u00a0(2017),\u00a0The Card Counter\u00a0(2021) and\u00a0Master Gardener\u00a0(2022), all of which premiered in Venice, Schrader is enjoying a late career critical revival.\u00a0First Reformed\u00a0brought Schrader his first Oscar nomination, for original screenplay, at 71.<\/p>\n\n