There will indeed be a Quebec presence at 76e Cannes film festival. Monia Chokri, after My brother’s wife in 2019 presented in the “Un Certain Regard” section, is back in this same section with Simple as Sylvain. Magalie Lépine-Blondeau and Pierre-Yves Cardinal will embody the passionate duo in this romance between a philosophy professor and an entrepreneur from the Laurentians.
Very happy with her selection, the filmmaker on the phone talks about Simple as Sylvain like a film calmed down in its humour, more tender than the previous ones. “You recognize my style, but I have taken on a certain maturity, with a less frenetic camera, giving way to more tenderness than causticity. I took risks. The film is still in post-production. And the filmmaker works hard.
Thursday morning live from Paris, the elected representatives of the cuvée were revealed. Thierry Frémaux, the general delegate of the festival alongside the new president of the meeting Iris Knobloch – the first woman to hold this position – said he was proud to mix in his selection of newcomers and veterans, cinema films and objects singular. The digital platforms that attract the next generation also train the talents of tomorrow.
Some were waiting Will of Denys Arcand in competition, absent from the race. Parallel sections unveiled later, including the Directors’ Fortnight, could, who knows? take titles from our shores out of their hats. In addition, some titles of the race remain to be announced. From May 16 to 27, after years of pandemic turbulence, the Cannes Film Festival with its pomp, its works and its stars finds its way back with a desire to renew itself while preserving its anchorages.
Six women will participate in the race for 19 films in front of the jury chaired by the Swede Ruben Östlund. True record of female participation for a festival that was often criticized for being a “boys club”. The French Maïwenn (polishes) with his Jeanne du Barry on the favorite of Louis XV leaves the ball out of competition. In competition: the Austrian Jessica Hausner launches Club Zero on a youth on hunger strike to save the planet. The Italian Alice Rohrwacher accompanies The Chimera (with Isabella Rossellini) addressing the black market of archaeological artifacts. The French Justine Triet, for the family drama Anatomy of a fall, and Catherine Breillat, with Last summer attacking a forbidden love, are also competing for the Palme d’Or. Just like the first film by the Senegalese Ramata-Toulaye Sy Banel and Adama on love in the face of conventions, and that of the Tunisian Kaouther Ben Hania Olfa’s Daughters. They tell us about femininity, social crises, mad love, injustice.
Cannes would not be Cannes without its regulars, often tenors. Here are the golden palmés again like the Briton Ken Loach who ventures there this time with The Old Oak shot in Wales. The Italian Nanni Moretti returns with Il Sol Dell’avvenire (featuring: Mathieu Amalric and Margherita Buy). The brilliant Turkish Nuri Bilge Ceylan delivers dry herbsGerman veteran Wim WendersPerfect Days.
Always in the radius of the masters, the American Wes Anderson offers the comedy-drama of science fiction Asteroid City (with Edward Norton, Margot Robbie and Scarlett Johansson). Finnish Aki Kaurismäki returns with Fallen Leaves. As for the Japanese Hirokazu Kore-eda, he delivers the family drama Monster. American Todd Haynes accompanies the romantic drama May-December (with Nathalie Portman and Julianne Moore). The Italian Marco Bellochio launches Rapito and Frenchman of Vietnamese origin Tràn Anh Hung The Passion of Dodin Bouffant. This film stars Juliette Binoche and Benoît Magimel in an adaptation of Marcel Rouff’s novel about love in the 19th century.e century of a famous gourmet and his cook.
Already announced upstream, Killers of the Flower Moon by Martin Scorsese with Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro on a serial killer, and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny signed by James Gold with Harrison Ford still at its bow, will have out-of-competition crowds racing like their star train.
“Un Certain Regard” will open its run with Lthe animal kingdom by Frenchman Thomas Cailley, a science fiction work featuring Romain Duris and Adèle Exarchopoulos. This section, which welcomes Monia Chokri, also offers several first films by venturing into territories little frequented by Cannes: Amazonian Brazil, Sudan, Mongolia, Congo.
It is at “Cannes Première” that we will discover Kubi Japanese Takeschi Kitano and time to love by the Frenchwoman Katell Quillévéré. In Special Screenings will also land the Briton Steve McQueen in his film on Amsterdam under the Occupation Occupied City and the Brazilian Kleber Mendonça Filho with Ghost portraits on the cinemas of his city. Just like Wim Wenders, for his 3D work The Sound of Time Anselm Kiefer, which earned him a double presence in front of the bay after his selection in competition.
La Croisette should be fruitful for moviegoers who have always believed in the star of Cannes, particularly scintillating on the menu of this 76e edition this year. We will be there to witness it.