MUBI has finally unveiled the first full trailer for Brazilian filmmaker Karim Aïnouz’s latest feature, which premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival in February.
Set in a secluded Catalonian villa, the irksomely stylish story centers on a rich family living in insulated excess until an outsider disrupts their precarious peace. Written by Efthimis Filippou, the script follows a clan who, per a press release, “seek love and validation through one another, their designer wardrobes and pop music,” before unraveling when “buried tensions surface and blood ties are severed.”
The stranger-turned-instigator is played by a freckled Elle Fanning, who joins a core ensemble that also includes Callum Turner as her love interest — with Riley Keough, Jamie Bell, and Lukas Gage as his siblings. They’re all locked in a tightly controlled dynamic with Tracy Letts as their blind patriarch, while Pamela Anderson plays the family’s late mother ravaged by wolves. Elena Anaya rounds out the singular cast.
The new trailer emphasizes outrageous performances, striking aesthetics, and camp dialogue that feels intentionally stilted, echoing Filippou’s ongoing impact on the so-called Greek Weird Wave. The screenwriter is responsible for several iconic genre standouts, from “Dogtooth” and “The Lobster” to “The Killing of a Sacred Deer” and “Kinds of Kindness.”
The reception for “Rosebush Pruning” at Berlin suggests that tone is key to its effect on the right audience. As critic David Opie wrote in his review for IndieWire, “This maximalist family saga isn’t so much a rallying cry to eat the rich as it is to consume them as their desires devour each other.” Ultimately grading the film with a C+, Opie also describes it as “wearying and amusing in equal measure,” pointing to a push-and-pull payoff that may define a bit too much of the experience.
Visually, the new promo leans into high-contrast color and carefully composed interiors, presenting luxury as both immersive spectacle and gilded cage. The result is an uncomfortably restrained catharsis sure to divide audiences… whether or not they’re family.
“Rosebush Pruning” will be released in the U.S. later this year.
