I have never been to the Cannes Film Festival, though once, many moons ago when I was a youthfully naive second-string reviewer for a short-lived, long-defunct newspaper, I did write an email to the National Film and Video Foundation, asking if the institution might be able to fund a trip to the Riviera. Two decades later, I’m still waiting for a reply.
Like most who don’t have the means to attend what is still arguably the world’s most prestigious film festival, I have to rely on reports by those who are lucky enough to be in France to learn about new art house cinematic gems that increasingly have little to no chance of being released in SA.
As the festival goes into its final days before the announcement of the winners this weekend, a picture has begun to emerge of on whom this year’s jury — led by Juliette Binoche and including actors Halle Berry and Jeremy Strong — might bestow ultimate glory. Though it has been a typically buzzy, celebrity-filled occasion, the question of which films have stood out the most this year has been a little muddier. There are some strong contenders for the Palme d’Or, even though, at time of writing, there are still several contenders yet to premier.
After an emotional press conference in which he described his interrogation and torture at the hands of government forces in his native Iran, dissident director Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just an Accident has become the favourite for a second Palme d’Or win for the director. Inspired by Panahi’s own experiences, the film follows a group of Iranians who kidnap their former regime tormentor and argue about whether to kill him. Reviews have been glowing and Panahi’s status as a brave outspoken artist whose work has earned him the outrage of the rulers of his homeland goes far in making him the darling of an industry that is desperately in need of outspoken heroes in a time of anxiety and uncertainty.
Norwegian director Joachim Trier, whose 2021 hit The Worst Person in the World was a front-runner for that year’s Palme d’Or and was nominated for a best foreign language Oscar, returned to the Croisette with a new film starring the previous film’s lead actress Renate Reinsve. Sentimental Value, a moving family drama, earned an impressive 15-minute standing ovation at its premier. The length of standing ovations shouldn’t be seen as a necessary indicator of success but in year when most films have been received with an average of six minutes of applause, the length of the reception for Trier may be a sign of awards to come.
Ukrainian director Sergei Loznitsa, a critics’ favourite and close runner in several previous Cannes editions, has quietly placed himself in the running this year with Two Prosecutors, his restrained and expertly framed account of two lawyers battling for justice during one of Stalin’s notorious show trials in 1937. Seen by many as a warning about corruption in modern politics and the authoritarianism of the Putin regime, its timely political message may be strong enough to sway the jury.
After the success of Walter Salles’ I’m Still Here, a moving drama about one woman’s long search for justice for the disappearance of her husband in the 1970s by Brazil’s military dictatorship, fellow Brazilian Kleber Mendonça Filho brought his nearly three-hour epic drama The Secret Agent to Cannes this year. Set during the same time period as Salles’ film and starring Brazilian actor Wagner Moura (most famous to international audiences for playing Pablo Escobar in the Netflix drama Narcos) it is the story of a tech expert on the run from the authorities during one of the country’s darkest periods and was enthusiastically received by critics.
It wouldn’t be a Cannes without several titles that have divided critics and audiences and this year, director Ari Aster’s Covid-19-era new Western Eddington starring Pedro Pascal and Joaquin Phoenix took the divisive mantel early with US critics seeming lukewarm and European critics responding mostly enthusiastically to its satirical barbs. Aster, who made his name as the director of the dark horrors Hereditary and Midsommar, is making his Cannes debut and while the wide-ranging responses have created much buzz about the film, it remains to be seen if it will make any impression with the jury.
Scottish director Lynne Ramsay, a festival darling whose output is marked by long periods between films, scored big with her Jennifer Lawrence, Robert Pattinson starring drama Die, My Love which has earned lots of early Oscar buzz for Lawrence’s performance and the festival’s biggest sales deal after Mubi picked it up for distribution for $23m.
While Wes Anderson’s star-studded The Phoenician Scheme was received with less adoration from critics than the cult-favourite director is used to, fellow American and indie-legend Richard Linklater’s Nouvelle Vague, a laid-back tribute to the French New Wave movement and its hero Jean-Luc Godard during the filming of his breakout 1959 classic Breathless, has proved itself a firm crowd favourite that could see Linklater take home his first Cannes win.
With films still to be shown from Belgian social-realist legends and multiple Cannes winners the Dardenne Brothers (Young Mothers) and US indie stalwart Kelly Reichardt (The Mastermind), the race for the podium is still open. The lack of a clear favourite that has everyone guessing until the end of the festival shows there’s much life left in the art form yet.
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