Tradition obliges: the French actor Vincent Lindon, president of the jury of 75and Cannes Film Festival, came to meet the journalists on Tuesday, surrounded by his areopagus. An exercise that unfolds from time to time between good intentions, the pleasure of film lovers, the desire to do battle and responses to the social and political crises that have come to darken the beautiful sun on the Croisette with clouds.
On this jury, filmmakers from all backgrounds and all persuasions: the American Jeff Nichols, the Iranian Asghar Farhadi, the Norwegian Joachim Trier, the French Ladj Ly, the American actress and director Rebecca Hall. In the ranks of the interpreters: the Indian Deepika Padukone, the Italian Jasmine Trinca and the Swedish Noomi Rapace. All obviously happy with their fate, even if Asghar Farhadi declared himself sorry for his country: “A culture, such a rich civilization and such a catastrophic present. The economic and political pressures on my people are terrible. »
Because the world is bad. How, after two pandemic vintages and in full invasion of Ukraine, do the privileged people who come to gauge films at Cannes feel?
By the heart
While declaring himself overjoyed to occupy this seat, Vincent Lindon, awarded here for The law of the market by Stéphane Brizé in 2015, did well. Aware of the responsibility that falls to him, transformed like everyone else by the confinements and by the blood shed in Ukraine, but in love with fairness.
“Of course the past two years and this war for a few months influence us unconsciously, but they also push us to be careful, to be dignified, to stand upright in homage to those who live days much more difficult than the ours. Some films will not address societal or political issues, and they should not be penalized for that. »
His dream is to become the spectator he was as a child. “I would like it to go through the heart before going higher, unscrewing my brain like a light bulb in a lamp. I want to accept all the cinemas in the world, let the emotion act, not judge first, but digest and love, do my job happily and enjoy every moment, because it will never come back again. »
Of course, the past two years and this war for a few months influence us unconsciously, but they also push us to be careful, to be dignified, to stand up straight in homage to those who live days much more difficult than ours.
For the jury, the films are all the more important in troubled times because they travel and influence the public. “I believe that cinema has the possibility of transforming our lives”, assures Jasmine Trinca. As for the Norwegian Joachim Trier (Oslo, August 31), he says he became a filmmaker by watching movies. “Cinema is a strange machine for people capable of empathy,” he says. On a human level, it increases this ability. »
Parity, diversity and possible plagiarism
Parity issues remain nagging at Cannes, where female filmmakers have always been under-represented. In the eyes of Jasmine Trinca, things are changing, but there is still so much to do. For her, Cannes was a real cradle. Starring in Nanni Moretti’s film (The son’s room) who won the Palme d’Or in 2001, she experienced her initiation on the Croisette in a kind of magic. “I grew up with the festival. I love his spirit. »
French filmmaker Ladj Ly, child of the French suburbs, whose film Wretched in 2019 will have caused a sensation in addition to winning the jury prize, still pinches himself to believe it: “Winning a prize at Cannes changes a life. We can start from the very bottom and end up here on this jury. »
A word on the laborious explanations of Asghar Farhadi, entangled in Tehran in a story of real or presumed plagiarism, which made headlines this year. One of his students sues him claiming that he copied the subject of his own documentary in his film A hero. Basically, the Iranian filmmaker declared on Tuesday that falsehoods circulate in the West on this affair: according to his words, no, he was not condemned; no, the trial has not yet taken place; yes, news items belong to the public domain and everyone can deal with them in their own way. Of which act! The rest of this saga will be followed over the months.
Odile Tremblay is the guest of the Cannes Film Festival.