EO, Decision To Leave and Close have the votes of the critics, but the suspense continues at the end of an edition as solid as without surprise or controversy.
“A good homogeneous vintage but no emotional slap yet.” This is the refrain that runs on a glamorous but bloodless Croisette after twelve days of festival. Cannes will have rolled out the red carpet for a number of veteran and regular filmmakers, as it should be. But the festival was strangely void of controversy and provocation on the big screen, in press conferences and even a sartorial revolution on the red carpet. A height.
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A few hours before the verdict of the jury chaired by Vincent Lindon, the games remain very open. Eo, Decision To Leave and Close have the votes of the critics but it must be remembered that it is in the last hours that the competition has been shaken up in recent years, as had been done Titanium by Julia Ducournau or Parasite by Bong Joon-ho.
Note, on Friday, two of the five directors in the race for the Palme d’Or were still in the starting blocks. Figure of independent cinema, the American Kelly Reichardt, whose western pastry chef and bovine First Cow enchanted the 2020 Deauville Festival, presented Show-Up. Portrait of an artist and the way she draws on her life to create. With in the credits, one of his favorite actresses, Michelle Williams.
Succeed the punk-gore palm Titanium
The Florida-native filmmaker shared the steps with a newcomer to the competition, Frenchwoman Léonor Séraille. Camera d’or at Cannes in 2017 for his first film Young woman, she tries her luck by telling in A little brother the story of a family with an immigrant background, from the end of the 1980s to the present day in the Parisian suburbs.
Will one of these films succeed Titanium by Julia Ducournau, gore gold medalist with punk energy last year? Difficult to launch into assured prognoses: no film in competition having been unanimous on the side of the festival-goers, moreover very spoiled in the parallel sections. And regaled by resounding previews like November by Cédric Jimenez or Elvis by Baz Luhrmann (prize of the craziest party with its drones drawing the silhouette of the musician in the night sky of Cannes).
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the UFO Eo and her ass seduce
On the side of the international press, the opinions are disparate. The grid of reviews compiled by the professional magazine Screen daily praises South Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook, 58, (old boy). His thriller Decision To Leave to the virtuoso realization invites, according to some, to comparisons Basic Instinct. Less sex! This investigation led by a police inspector, who falls in love with the main suspect of a crime, is however served by a hazy intrigue. The film is magnified by the interpretation of its two main characters, two newcomers to the cinema of Park Chan-wook: in the role of the inspector, actor Park Hae-il, who had worked with Bong Joon-ho (Memories of a Murder, The Host); in that of the widow, the Chinese actress Tang Wei, revealed by Ang Lee (Lust, surety).
Read the fileCannes – All films in competition
If a film as anticipated as that of David Cronenberg, Crimes of the Future, made pschitt with the journalists stunned by its sluggishness, another big name, James Gray, rather charmed the critics with Armageddon Time. For his fifth time in competition, the author ofAd Astra and The night belongs to us delivers a touching and largely autobiographical chronicle of a boy’s childhood in 1980s New York, and the discovery of his artistic calling.
the UFO EO, whose main character is a donkey in the face of the cruelty of the world and the whims of men, by the dean of the competition, Jerzy Skolimowski, 84, won the votes of their colleagues from the ICS (the international society of cinephilia) who give it their best rating are more lenient with David Cronenberg who is hot on the heels of James Gray and the rural drama RMN by Romanian Cristian Mungiu, already winner of a Palme d’Or thirteen years ago. The story of childhood and friendship of Luka Dhont Close also made a fairly high entry in their ranking. His young revelations Eden Dabrine and Gustav De Waele could hope for an interpretation prize. The incandescent face of Nadia Tereszkiewicz in the autobiographical film The Almond Trees by Valeria Bruni Tedeschi on his years of training with Patrice Chéreau also made an impression. Just like the cursed clan of Iranian interpreters of Leila and her brothers.
Stars At Noon red lantern
On the other hand, the last melody imbued with social realism by the Dardenne brothers, Tori and Lokita, which could earn them a third historic palme d’or after Rosetta and The Child split. Praised by respondents from Screen daily, it is much lower at the ICS. But its committed tone could make Vincent Lindon vibrate.
At the bottom of both Screendaily and ICS charts, Brother and sister by Arnaud Desplechin and the sensual tale of espionage by Claire Denis Stars At Noon act as universal dunce caps.
After completing its seventh art cure, the jury retires to a villa to deliberate on Saturday, cut off from the world. Their prize list will be unveiled on France Télévisions at the start of the evening. To decide between the 21 films in the running, Vincent Lindon is supported by the Anglo-American actress and director Rebecca Hall (Clair-Obscur), the Swedish Noomi Rapace, (Millennium) or the directors Asghar Farhadi (Grand Prize in 2021 with A hero)Ladj Ly (Wretched, jury prize 2019) and Joachim Trier (Julie in 12 chapters, female performance award). The adage has it that a jury chaired by an actor leans towards poignant works and that that chaired by a filmmaker dubs more technical and intransigent visions. With a majority of directors alongside the French actor, anything is possible.