(Paris) The American stars in majesty, a record place for female directors in competition: 76e Cannes Film Festival announced its official selection on Thursday, five weeks before the race for the Palme d’Or.
Nineteen films are in the running to succeed Without filtercrowned last year and whose director, the Swedish Ruben Östlund chairs the jury this year.
The festival will have a flavor of Hollywood: Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman will climb the steps for the new film by Todd Haynes (carol, Dark Waters), in competition, where we also expect a galaxy of stars led by Wes Anderson for his Asteroid City with Scarlett Johansson, Adrien Brody and Margot Robbie.
Out of competition, Johnny Depp will provide the show from the opening on May 16 with Jeanne DuBarry of the Frenchwoman Maïwenn, which marks her big return to the screen after the judicial soap opera which opposed her to her ex-wife Amber Heard.
His daughter, Lily-Rose Depp, is also expected to climb the steps, alongside popstar The Weeknd for The Idola project between film and series signed by the creator ofEuphoria.
These stars join those whose arrival has already been announced, starting with Harrison Ford, for the fifth IndianaJones which promises, as Top Gun: Maverick last year, to create the event. Series star Ethan Hawke and Pedro Pascal The Last of Uswill also be there, for a short film by Pedro Almodovar.
This American presence proves that Cannes, whose new president Iris Knobloch comes from Warner, does not intend to let the Venice Film Festival play the role of launching pad for Hollywood.
It remains to convince Martin Scorsese, Palme d’or in 1976 with Taxi Driver to come up against the competition again. His last movie, Killers of the Flower Moon, with Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro, scheduled out of competition, could still join the race for the Palme d’Or at the last minute. “The request has been made,” said the general delegate of the Cannes Film Festival, Thierry Frémaux; it’s up to the producers, Apple TV and Paramount, to decide.
In general, Cannes “is an extraordinary springboard for cinema” and proves that “nothing can replace the event represented by a theatrical release”, declared Mr.me Knobloch, who takes over from Pierre Lescure.
More parity
The latter is the first woman to chair the festival, which this year sends the signal that it intends to advance a little further on the long road to parity.
Thierry Frémaux underlined the “never reached number” of female directors who are competing for the Palme d’Or, won only twice by women: there will be six of them, compared to five last year.
Among them, the presence of Alice Rohrwacher testifies to the renewed vitality of Italian cinema, which places three filmmakers in competition, with Marco Bellochio and Nanni Moretti. The competition also sees the return to the cinema of the sulphurous Catherine Breillat, ten years after her last film Abuse of weakness and serious health problems.
“It’s encouraging to see that there is progress, but we would love to reach parity one day,” reacted to AFP the 50/50 collective, at the forefront of equality issues.
The arrival in competition of a first film, directed by a Senegalese filmmaker, Ramata-Toulaye Sy, or the Tunisian Kaouther Ben Hania, also signals a desire to give more importance to African cinema.
PHOTO DAVID BOILY, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Director Wim Wenders
The big names in cinema, regulars on the Croisette, have not been forgotten: the Japanese Hirokazu Kore-eda, the German Wim Wenders, with two films, one of which is in competition, the British veteran Ken Loach with two Palmes d’Or , or the Japanese Takeshi Kitano, for a “historical samurai comedy” out of competition.
The festival will also be marked by the return, after the health crisis, of Iranian and Chinese films, including two films by documentary filmmaker Wang Bing, and the arrival for the first time in the official selection of Mongolia.
The 19 films in competition
- Club Zero by Jessica Hausner Noted in 2019 with Little Joewhich had won an interpretation award for her actress Emily Beecham, the Austrian filmmaker looks at youth with Club Zero. Mia Wasikowska plays a teacher in a posh preparatory school, who forms very strong ties with five of her students.
- The Zone of Interest by Jonathan Glazer
Based on a book by British Martin Amis, the director ofUnder the Skin enters the competition with a story set in Auschwitz. That of a Nazi officer who fell in love with the wife of the commandant of the extermination camp. - Dead leaves by Aki Kaurismaki
Finnish filmmaker The man without a past (Grand Prix in 2002 in Cannes), On the other side of hope Or the harbormaster of melancholy, returns for his 19e film with two Finnish actors, Jussi Vatanen and Alma Pöysti. - Olfa’s daughters by Kaouther Ben Hania
The Tunisian director will enter the competition with a film “at the edge of the essay” according to the Festival’s general delegate, Thierry Frémaux. In 2017, his film The beast and the packon violence against women, had been presented in the Un certain regard category. - Asteroid City by Wes Anderson
Two years later The French Dispatch and his cast of stars who lit up the red carpet, the American director brings together Adrien Brody, Jason Schwartzman, Tilda Swinton or even Margot Robbie and Tom Hanks in a fictional American city that brings together parents and students for scholarly competitions. - Anatomy of a fall by Justine Triet
After Sibyl in 2019, the Frenchwoman Justine Triet is back in competition. Her fourth feature film tells the story of a woman accused of the murder of her husband, with the German Sandra Hüller in the title role, who conquered the Croisette in 2016 with Toni Erdman. - Monster by Hirokazu Kore-eda
Return to Japan for the filmmaker, Palme d’or in 2018 with A family matterafter breakaways in France and Korea (The lucky starsin competition last year). - ll Sol dell’avvenire by Nanni Moretti
Shot at the Cinecitta studios in Rome, the Italian’s new opus, after Tre piani, promises to talk about “cinema, circus and the 50s”. With his favorite actress Margherita Buy and the French Mathieu Amalric. - The Chimera by Alice Rohrwacher
The Italian, used to competition, returns with The Chimera which features an almost unrecognizable Josh O’Connor as a young archaeologist embroiled in a group of grave robbers in ’80s Italy. - dry herbs by Nuri Bilge Ceylan
The Turkish filmmaker, Palme d’or in 2014 with Winter Sleepreturns to the Croisette with a drama set in Anatolia at the center of which a teacher faces accusations of harassment. - Last summer by Catherine Breillat
Ten years after his last film Abuse of weaknessand serious health problems, the sulphurous director focuses on a mother whose life changes following an affair with her stepson. - The passion of Dodin Bouffant by Tran Anh Hung
French of Vietnamese origin who had signed The smell of green papaya in the 90s, Tran Anh Hung adapted a novel dedicated to gastronomy, with Juliette Binoche and Benoit Magimel. - Rapito by Marco Bellocchio
The year of the Palme d’or for the Italian giant? Palme d’honneur in 2021, the director of Traitor has never yet received the supreme distinction despite films regularly selected in competition. At 83, Rapito looks back at the true story of Edgardo Mortora, a 6-year-old Jewish child kidnapped by the Catholic Church and forcibly converted in the 19e century. - May/December by Todd Haynes
The American reconnects with one of his favorite actresses, Julianne Moore (far from paradise), and enlists Natalie Portman for a drama about a couple with a significant age difference. - fire brand by Karim Ainouz
Brazilian director of The invisible life of Eurídice Gusmãofor which he won the Un Certain Regard prize in 2019, is back at Cannes, after mountain sailorfilm on the edge of the documentary on his discovery of Algeria (country of his father), which he had presented at Cannes in 2021. - The Old oak by Ken Loach
” Are you sure ? asked the British veteran (86) when he learned of his new entry into competition for a social and realistic drama, his favorite genre. Shot in the North East of England, the film recounts the meeting of a pub owner and a Syrian refugee. - Banel and Adama from Ramata-Toulaye Sy
Young Senegalese director, Ramata-Toulaye Sy enters directly into competition with this first film. - Perfect days by Win Wenders
Also present out of competition with a documentary on visual artist Anselm Kiefer, Win Wenders (wings of desire », Paris, Texas, Buena Vista Social Club) promises to surprise with a film on “the ideal of Japanese public toilets”. - Youth by Wang Bing
The great Chinese documentary filmmaker, accustomed to river films on the marginalized of his country, is doubly present at Cannes in selection (competition and special screening with man in black).
As every year, a few films could still be invited to the selection by the start of the festivities. The composition of the jury, of which we only know the president for the moment, has yet to be revealed, as well as the poster for this 76e editing.