As some of the year's most exciting films premiere at Venice Film Festival 2025, GLAMOUR has rounded up the festival's top movies that you absolutely need to see as soon as they are released.
Guillermo del Toro's take on the story of Frankenstein, sees Jacob Elordi star as the “creature”, while a whole host of stars feature in Luca Guadagnino's post #MeToo psychodrama After The Hunt, including Julia Roberts, Andrew Garfield and The Bear star Ayo Edebiri, and lest we forget the latest Emma Stone-Yorgos Lanthimos collaboration Bugonia and Kathryn Bigelow's latest directorial genius in White House drama A House of Dynamite.
The Hollywood multi-hyphenate talks joining the cast of Wednesday, mother-daughter relationships and channelling her outcast energy.
There's a lot to unpack. Here's a guide to the best films that premiered at Venice Film Festival 2025.
The Smashing Machine
Starring: Dwayne Johnson (The Rock), Emily Blunt
Plot: Follows the real-life story of MMA fighter Mark Kerr (played by Johnson) with Blunt playing his then-wife Dawn Staples.
Release date: 3 October
Bugonia
Starring: Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Alicia Silverstone
Plot: The latest Emma Stone-Yorgos Lanthimos collaboration (after Kinds of Kindness and Poor Things) follows a woman who is convinced she is an alien intent on destroying the planet, leading to her being kidnapped by two conspiracy-obsessed young men.
Release date: 31 October
Marc by Sofia
After the success of her iconic films such as Lost in Translation, The Virgin Suicides and Priscilla, critically-acclaimed director Sofia Coppola has turned her hand to documentary making, with her project focusing on the life and work of her friend Marc Jacobs, no less.
Release date: TBC
Frankenstein
Starring: Jacob Elordi, Mia Goth, Oscar Isaac, Felix Kammerer, David Bradley, Lars Mikkelsen, Christian Convery Charles Dance and Christoph Waltz
Plot: Oscar-winning director Guillermo del Toro's take on the story of Frankenstein is not to be missed. Oscar Isaac is set to play Dr Frankenstein, while Hollywood heart throb Jacob Elordi takes on the role of “The Creature”, Frankenstein's monster.
Release date: Frankenstein will be released in UK and Ireland cinemas on 17 October and on Netflix on 7 November.
The Testament of Ann Lee
Starring: Amanda Seyfried, Lewis Pullman
Plot: A biopic following the very real-life story of Ann Lee, who was a founding leader of the Shaker Movement, who proclaimed her as the “female Jesus Christ”.
Release date: TBC
After The Hunt
Starring: Julia Roberts, Andrew Garfield, Ayo Edebiri, Chloë Sevigny, Thaddea Graham
Plot: Luca Guadagnino's (Call Me By Your Name, Challengers) next movie is predictably star-studded, and has been described as a “post #MeToo psychodrama” that explores what happens when a university professor (Julia Roberts) receives an accusation from a star pupil of sexual assault by her colleague.
Release date: 22 October
Father Mother Sister Brother
Starring: Adam Driver, Cate Blanchett, Mayim Bialik, Vicky Krieps
Plot: This anthology film tells three stories concerning relationships between adult children and their emotionally distant parents. As estranged siblings, they reunite after years apart and must deal with the tension between each other and other family members.
Release date: TBC
Jay Kelly
Starring: George Clooney, Adam Sandler, Riley Keough, Greta Gerwig, Laura Dern, Eve Hewson
Plot: From Marriage Story's Noah Baumbach, Jay Kelly tells the story of a famous Hollywood actor Jay Kelly (played by Clooney) and an unexpected yet “profound” journey across Europe that he takes with his manager Ron (Sandler). We see both men confront decisions they've made in their lives, as well as their relationships and the legacy they hope to leave behind.
Release date: Jay Kelly will be released into cinemas on 14 November, before dropping on Netflix on 5 December.
A House of Dynamite
Starring: Rebecca Ferguson, Idris Elba, Greta Lee, Willa Fitzgerald, Jonah Hauer-King
Plot: A political thriller from director extraordinaire Kathryn Bigelow? Sign us up. We see the White House deal with an impending missile strike, where staff are pushed into a race against time to discover who is responsible and how to respond to such a threat.
Release date: A House of Dynamite will be released in select cinemas on 3 October, before dropping on Netflix on 24 October.
The Wizard of Kremlin
Starring: Jude Law, Paul Dano, Alicia Vikander, Tom Sturridge, Jeffrey Wright, Will Keen
Plot: Based on the 2022 novel of the same name, The Wizard of Kremlin follows a fictional character Vadim Baranov (Paul Dano) during the final years of the Soviet Union, seeing a young Putin (Jude Law) rise to power.
Release date: TBC
No Other Choice
Starring: Lee Byung-hun, Son Ye-jin, Park Hee-soon, Lee Sung-min
Plot: A man's world suddenly falls apart when he is abruptly laid off from his job of 25 years. After being unemployed for a number of years, he comes up with a unique plan to get a new job and eliminate his competition.
Release date: TBC
