The 77e Cannes Film Festival is coming to an end. In all, 22 films will have been presented in official competition. Among specialist journalists and inveterate film buffs, the observation seems the same: apart from electroshocks Emilia Perezthe trans musical thriller by Jacques Audiard, and The Substance, Coralie Fargeat’s horrifico-feminist allegory, the 2024 vintage hardly aroused passions. There were some very beautiful pieces — Rough diamondby Agathe Riedinger, Birdby Andrea Arnold, Grand Tour, by Miguel Gomes, but few truly great films. Many established filmmakers — David Cronenberg, Francis Ford Coppola, Christophe Honoré, Paolo Sorrentino — have disappointed. Nevertheless, the conversations went well, and not just about the films. In short, some of the most talked about topics.
The presence of #MeToo in Cannes
The festival had not started, when rumors were circulating on social networks that the investigative site Mediapart was preparing to unveil a list of ten big names in French cinema, especially actors, who were the subject of allegations sexual character. In a scathing text, the editorial co-director of Mediapart denied it, noting that the said rumor and the list in question emanated from a conspiracy account.
The MeToo movement was nonetheless present in Cannes from start to finish, first thanks to the presence of actress-director Judith Godrèche, who presented her short film Me toothen, through the Elle Magazine investigation in which nine women allege that the famous producer Alain Sarde (The pianist, Mullholland Drive) either harassed, assaulted or raped them. Then, in a twist on Thursday, Mediapart published an investigation into the popular actor Edouard Baer, where this time six women made allegations against him. Note that neither Sarde nor Baer appeared on the famous list.
Without forgetting, in the Cannes Premières section, the biographical drama Maria, which looks back on the ordeal of actress Maria Schneider on the set of the film The Last Tango in Paris (The last tango in Paris)…
Clothing policy
Australian actress Cate Blanchett is undoubtedly the star who produced the most impact on the red carpet this year. It’s not that her dress, created by Haider Ackermann for the house of Jean-Paul Gauthier, was spectacular per se. It is rather that from a certain angle, and a certain lighting, it seemed to evoke the Palestinian flag.
Social networks were ignited, even if the main person concerned did not confirm anything. And in fact, from another angle and another lighting, the portion of fabric appearing white in the most widely circulated photo, seems rather pale pink, as pointed out The Guardian.
So, political position, or optical illusion?
In the presence of Mohammad Rasoulof
Sentenced to eight years in prison in Iran, the dissident filmmaker managed to flee his country with some members of his film’s team The seeds of the sacred fig, selected in official competition. At the end of a journey across Europe, Rasoulof arrived in the greatest secrecy in Cannes on Friday in time for the premiere of his film.
We follow a judge at the Revolutionary Court of Tehran who gradually plunges into paranoia fueled by the riots outside as well as the disappearance of his revolver. The writer-director, who has often defied censorship in Iran in the past, is not at his first run-ins with the authorities there.
In 2019, he was sentenced to one year in prison for anti-regime propaganda. In the process, he received in abstentia the Golden Bear at the Berlinale for The Devil does not existhis plea against the death penalty.
Hollywood deficit
Unlike previous years, few Hollywood blockbusters were unveiled outside of competition. Set apart Mad Max: Furiosaappreciated but which did not rise as phenomenally as its predecessor Mad Max: Fury Road (Mad Max. The road to chaos), and which, moreover, was not even a world premiere — the city of Sydney had this honor, the director George Miller being Australian.
As Variety reported, the festival was well aware of this but could do nothing about it: “Even before Cannes revealed its slate of premieres, organizers privately acknowledged that production delays due to actors’ strikes and screenwriters, had left them little choice in terms of films from major studios to highlight. »
But fewer blockbusters mean fewer Hollywood stars on the red carpet. Although on this level, the extraordinary (and bloody) professional return of Demi Moore, who, in The Substanceplays a fallen star ready to do anything to regain his youth, will remain in the annals of the festival.
The megalomaniac and the “killer”
Speaking of American cinema, two films that have been at the heart of many conversations, for distinct reasons, have still not found distributors in North America despite their significant media presence during the festival.
There are obviously Megalopolisthe disappointing political-romantic-anticipatory fresco self-financed for 120 million dollars by Francis Ford Coppola, winner exactly 50 years ago of the first of his two Palme d’Or for The Conversation (Secret conversation), the other being for Apocalypse Now (It’s the apocalypse). However, Megalopolis has ardent defenders: we will have to see if there are any among the distributors.
Written and directed by Ali Abbasi, to whom we owe the unusual Border, The Apprenticewhich chronicles the rise of a young Donald Trump, from naivety to monstrosity (or from “loser” to “killer”, dixit the film), also has no distribution in North America. In the latter case, however, the reception having overall been very good, we can bet that this reluctance has more to do with the subject.
Mathieu Rankin seduces the public
Finally, on an assumed chauvinistic note, let us recall that Montreal filmmaker Matthew Rankin won the brand new Audience Award in the Filmmakers’ Fortnight section for his singular, and singularly successful, A universal language.
A whimsical and bittersweet reflection on identity with the director’s own unusual humor, the strange and fascinating film takes place in Rankin’s native Winnipeg, but a Winnipeg merged with Tehran, where everyone speaks in Farsi. This award is the festival’s very first public prize in competition or in parallel sections. A grant of 7,500 euros, sponsored by the Chantal Akerman Foundation, will be awarded to the filmmaker.
François Lévesque is in Cannes at the invitation of the festival and thanks to the support of Telefilm Canada