And speaking of Cannes, our top pick this week is called Official competition, so we stay on topic. It’s a comedy, directed by the Argentinian duo Gaston Duprat and Mariano Cohn, with a trio of choice actors: Penélope Cruz, Antonio Banderas, and Oscar Martinez.
The story is that of a rich and old boss of the pharmaceutical industry who wants to leave a mark, a legacy, and decides to produce a film, bringing together a fashionable director and two very different actors. , an aging theater comedian and a very arrogant action movie hero.
Gastón Duprat, co-director of the film: “We prepared the film with the actors, we thought about it with them, we wrote it with them in mind, but also with the participation of all three of them. Because they were interested in making a film where they could interact with each other, but also by participating, since they transmitted to us a lot of experiences and personal anecdotes, which are found in the film, either as is, literally, or a little modified.”
The film is a charge, often hilarious, against the disproportionate egos of the artists, but also their fear of aging, of disappearing, and also a tribute to cinema and its production. Comedians are often free-wheeling and self-deprecating, and Official competition is probably the movie that will make you laugh the most at the moment.
Another film in theaters since Wednesday, That’s wonderful, by and with Clovis Cornillac. A sort of tale that introduces us to Pierre, in his forties, who has always lived cut off from the world, protected by his parents. But at the death of these, he discovers that he was adopted, and that according to French law, he has no existence. He goes in search of his origins and meets Anna, played by Alice Pol.
“It’s not a social film, and it’s not a banal film, specifies Clovis Cornillac. So to get out of that, we needed anchors that refer, things that we all know. Dented people meet. Because battered people are a bit lost, and a bit loose. They create de facto, or by obligation, sorts of small communities, mutual aid or support among themselves, etc. But what I didn’t want was for it to be sad.
I think there is a real strength. It’s always very delicate, because it’s as if you were saying: ah it’s great to be in deep shit, or it’s great to be poor, when not at all. So that’s not the question, but the human values that emerge from it have nothing to do with what you possess.”
A decidedly prolific Clovis Cornillac, since this year too must be released colors of firewhich he also directs, adaptation of the novel by Pierre Lemaitre which follows Goodbye up there.
Finally, on the occasion of the Platinum Jubilee, which celebrates the 70 years of reign of Elizabeth II, a documentary was broadcast Thursday evening in Pathé cinemas in France. Know that a catch-up session is scheduled tomorrow Sunday, June 5 at 4 p.m., at the same places.
Elizabeth: Singular Views is signed Roger Michell, director among others of Love at first sight in Nothing Hillbut died before he could finish the film. Its producer, Kevin Loader, explains to us the very strong link of the citizens of the United Kingdom to their sovereign:
“I think it’s fair to consider that not everyone in the UK is a monarchist, and many think the institution is dated, or more appropriate to a modern state. But despite that, and also because that the Queen has fulfilled her role so brilliantly, and flawlessly, for 70 years, even people who are anti-monarchists respect someone who has done such a good job.
Neither Roger Michell nor I are monarchists, but we have a lot of respect and affection for this very special woman. We won’t see another queen like her, and we won’t have another queen in this country for at least three generations. A woman at the head of a state for the longest term in history.”
A documentary composed solely of archive images, chaptered by theme, which looks back on the aura of Elizabeth II, both as queen, but also as an icon of popular culture.