Julian Schnabel's 'In the Hand of Dante' Arrives on Netflix With Divisive Reviews and a Cast That Has No Business Being This Good

Julian Schnabel has been trying to make this movie since 2011. Fifteen years, one swapped lead actor, and a nasty dispute with his own financiers later, 'In the Hand of Dante' is finally here, and the reviews suggest the wait did not smooth out many rough edges.

The film, which according to a March acquisition report in Deadline was picked up by Netflix earlier this year for both a limited theatrical and streaming release, opens in select theaters on June 12 and hits the platform on June 24. The story traces two parallel timelines: <cite index="11-10">Oscar Isaac plays dual roles as New York author Nick Tosches in the 21st century and Dante Alighieri in the 14th century.</cite> <cite index="13-6,13-7,13-8">In the present-day strand, Tosches is drawn into a violent quest to confirm the origins of a manuscript believed to be Dante's own handwritten 'Divine Comedy.' After the sudden death of his daughter, Nick is summoned from self-imposed exile by a mafia don played by John Malkovich, and with the help of an unpredictable assassin named Louie (Gerard Butler), the pair embark on a dark and murderous journey to steal and authenticate the priceless work.</cite>

The supporting cast is, frankly, absurd in the best possible sense: <cite index="10-6">alongside Isaac, the film stars Gal Gadot, Gerard Butler, John Malkovich, Louis Cancelmi, Sabrina Impacciatore, Benjamin Clementine, Martin Scorsese, Al Pacino, and Jason Momoa.</cite> Martin Scorsese acting in a movie about a stolen Dante manuscript is the kind of casting that either signals visionary confidence or a project in which everyone said yes before reading far enough.

The critical record from Venice, where the film premiered out of competition at the 82nd festival in September 2025, is not encouraging. <cite index="10-19">On Rotten Tomatoes, 43% of critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 4.2 out of 10.</cite> The Playlist's review, according to reporting on the film's trailer release, awarded the film a D-, calling it "a maddening, irredeemable experience." Pete Hammond, writing for Deadline, was more charitable, describing <cite index="10-20">"an unpredictable, if uneven, screenplay that is all over the map" but lauded Schnabel for taking a "big swing."</cite>

That creative tension between ambition and coherence has apparently been a feature of the production from the start. As World of Reel reported in March, <cite index="17-7,17-8,17-9,17-10">Schnabel had contractually agreed to deliver a two-hour, color feature. What he turned in instead was two and a half hours, partly in black-and-white. The ensuing back-and-forth took more than a year, but Schnabel ultimately prevailed, and the version that screened at Venice is the one he intended, uncut.</cite>

All of that drama is very on-brand. <cite index="11-9">This is Schnabel's latest film since his 2018 Oscar-nominated portrait of Vincent van Gogh, 'At Eternity's Gate.'</cite> That film had its own divisive edges and found its audience anyway. <cite index="18-5">The adaptation was first announced in 2011 at the height of Schnabel's cinematic fame, with Johnny Depp attached to star, before floundering in development hell for twelve years.</cite>

The Netflix acquisition is the kind of move that raises eyebrows in the industry. A 150-minute, partly black-and-white literary crime film about the Divine Comedy is not obvious streamer bait. But there is a real argument that the platform is exactly where a film like this finds its second life: the people who want to watch Oscar Isaac play both a mob-adjacent literary scholar and the author of the Inferno will find it, and the people who would have walked out of a theater in the first thirty minutes will simply close the tab. That is not nothing.

<cite index="12-9">The film has been described as part muscular crime movie, part spiritual odyssey, and part tragicomedy, turning a thriller about a stolen book into a meditation on immortality and the transcendental power of art and love.</cite> Whether it earns that description or only reaches for it is the question Netflix subscribers will be answering for themselves starting June 24. The film also screens at the Tribeca Film Festival before its streaming debut, per Deadline.

Sources cited:
- Deadline (acquisition) (https://deadline.com/2026/03/netflix-julian-schnabel-in-the-hand-of-dante-1236760364/)
- Deadline (trailer) (https://deadline.com/2026/05/in-the-hand-of-dante-trailer-oscar-isaac-julian-schnabel-1236928964/)
- Wikipedia - In the Hand of Dante (film) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Hand_of_Dante_(film))
- Vital Thrills (https://www.vitalthrills.com/in-the-hand-of-dante/)
- The Playlist (https://theplaylist.net/in-the-hand-of-dante-trailer-julian-schnabels-literary-drama-starring-oscar-isaac-hits-select-theaters-june-12-netflix-on-june-24-20260528/)
- World of Reel (https://www.worldofreel.com/blog/2026/3/19/julian-schnabels-in-the-hands-of-dante-acquired-by-netflix)
- Hollywood Reporter (https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/netflix-june-2026-new-releases-movies-tv-1236610298/)