Four feature films carrying the Netflix seal compete in Venice this year. In the midst of the streaming giant’s strong presence at the festival, a stance shaped by the Cannes Festival’s long standing veto, the festival scene shows a somewhat cautious strategy. From the standpoint of Mostra programmers, it looks like a preference for the easy choice. Yet the truth remains that Background Noise, the Netflix film directed by Noah Baumbach and led by Adam Driver and Greta Gerwig, is far from simple. To prove it, one only has to look at the literary source that inspired it: the novel of the same name by Don DeLillo, a figure often celebrated as a defining American writer, whose critique of modern America is relentless and ferocious as it is insightful.
Indeed, given the uphill battle of adapting a book to the screen over the past twenty years, the existence of this film commands both respect and attention. It is equally admired and feared for the depth it reaches and the breadth of questions it raises. Many viewers have previously deemed DeLillo’s prose too intimate for cinema, with its interior monologues and postmodern abstractions, and for the philosophical weight borne by his characters and narrative. In this light, Baumbach faced substantial challenges during production, including the tragic loss of three crew members to illness, overdose, and suicide; the film carries a budget reported at up to $140 million. These events have fed worries that the project might fail before it begins.
multiple species
The story follows a professor of history whose life—along with his bustling suburban clan—is pushed toward collapse when an accident releases a toxic cloud into the atmosphere. Background Noise blends satire, thriller elements, horror, an apocalyptic vision, a family sitcom cadence, and a philosophical meditation. As it moves through these genres, it depicts a society sedated and controlled by supermarket products, media saturation, drug dependencies, and the general machinery that sustains the illusion of the American dream. A world filled with traffic noise, loud gossip, and endless conversations designed to generate misinformation, while people struggle to quiet their own fears of mortality.
a little radical
Baumbach approaches the film with a bold stance that earns both respect and caution. Much like David Cronenberg did when translating DeLillo’s other prominent work, Cosmopolis, to the screen, Baumbach preserves a large portion of the novel’s dialogue in near-original form. He believes that altering the dialogue could undermine the tone and the flood of aphorisms that define DeLillo’s voice. This fidelity allows Background Noise to swing between absurdity, tragedy, cartoonish moments, and unsettling vibes, often flipping direction in a matter of seconds with startling precision.
Yet there is a sense that Baumbach may not be the ideal director for such a literary undertaking, even though his previous films have shown a knack for capturing neurotic, highly articulate, and narcissistic male figures. To honor DeLillo’s unconventional narrative technique, which echoes the influence of late 1960s Jean-Luc Godard, would require a director with a more radical formal sensibility. On the other hand, one wonders whether a bolder adaptation might benefit from Netflix’s substantial financial backing and global reach. The tension between fidelity to the source and the appetite for innovative cinematic vocabulary remains a central conversation around the project.