Competing here with Chocolate in 1988, she had not had the honors of the official competition for 35 years. Injustice!
Better late than never. Here she is back with Stars at Noon, adapted from the eponymous novel by Denis Johnson. She gives us a film of atmosphere, intimacy, on the edge of the political thriller, the existential quest and the romance which evokes a little Lost in Translation, by Sofia Coppola, and works from the New Wave. Set in Nicaragua, shot in English and Spanish, the film follows the path of a young American journalist, prostitute, who has survived on odds since the authorities withdrew her passport after an overly virulent report on the eve of crucial elections. The lady is played by Margaret Qualley (vibrant and enigmatic), daughter of actress Andie MacDowell, with whom she shares family resemblances. Her path crosses that of a mysterious, attractive British businessman, full of secrets, with whom she will go on the run. A character played with class but without flame by Joe Alwyn.
Claire Denis has produced a beautiful film, which sometimes takes pleasure in misleading us, between beautiful and modest love scenes, slippery images, a subtle and disturbing atmosphere criss-crossing the country by car from a last-class motel to a palace and on the way to Costa Rica. Who protects whom? A deputy minister? The CIA? The lover, who is too interested in politics, is tracked down. We must flee. In this pandemic shooting where the characters are often masked, the threats seem numerous. Alcohol flows freely, death strikes without warning, the police are never far away. The scenario of Stars at Noon looks like a jazz tune that follows a note of spleen, desire, fear. And the ellipses inhabit us as much as the sinuous frame that carries this film towards its dark destiny.
Iranian comedy
The humor of Iranian cinema sometimes thwarts censorship. And it’s often through laughter, as in A hero, of Farhadi, that the impossible daily life of an often poor people, subscribed to all the tricks to defy taboos, that national realities take shape. The characters don’t have a penny and they struggle, ready for anything.
We owed Saeed Roustayi Tehran law, a real international success. It is on a comic vein that he delivers us in competition Leila’s Brothers, a work often very funny and sharp which drags on, alas! Editing cuts are lost… But there are Awful, dirty and wicked and Parasite in the dysfunctional family featured here. Grand sons in their forties who are unemployed or subscribers to ridiculous odd jobs are stuck in the parents’ apartment, as out of step as they are. But the single sister, Leila (Taraneh Allidousti), wants to save her siblings from ruin. And when the dad, naive, is offered the title of godfather by the cousins who have always snubbed him, he is ready to sacrifice the coveted kitty. The poor and failed opium-addicted patriarch could not find a better interpreter than Saeed Poursamimi, whose bewildering profile unleashes laughter every time he moves. The courageous sister therefore carries the family: even her obese brother and the one who is only interested in his biceps. And in this muddle where money is found, gets lost, hides under the couch, devalues especially when Trump causes misery in the country, we follow its devastating course. This gallery of gratinated portraits, these hilarious gags, these scenes of catastrophes, this leaping scenario really have bite, but 2 h 45, it’s very long…
Odile Tremblay is the guest of the Cannes Film Festival.