The Cannes Film Festival is nearly here and while it’s easy to get swept up in the glitz and glamor and very big yachts, there’s another, equally important side to the festival as a marketplace for films from all over the world seeking distribution.
And there are some very big movies at this year’s festival which don’t have distribution, either domestically or internationally, that are very much worth keeping an eye on. They could be some of the festival’s biggest splashes.
Die, My Love (Lynne Ramsay)
Scottish director Lynne Ramsay is one of the most exciting filmmakers working today and the fact that she has only made five features total, beginning with her outstanding debut feature “Ratcatcher” (back in 1999), turning the release of each new film into a verifiable event. “Die, My Love,” her first since 2017’s “You Were Never Really Here,” is an adaptation of the 2017 novel by Adriana Harwicz (Ramsay wrote the script with Enda Walsh and Alice Birch), follows a woman (Jennifer Lawrence) who develops postpartum depression, which then takes an even darker turn. Robert Pattinson plays her husband, with supporting turns by LaKeith Stanfield, Sissy Spacek and Nick Nolte. Given the caliber of talent involved – and unless the movie is an unlikable slog – it seems like “Die, My Love” will get snapped up quickly and be positioned for awards this fall, especially if it takes home the Palme d’Or.
The Mastermind (Kelly Reichardt)
“The Mastermind” really has it all – a beloved American auteur in Kelly Reichardt; an outstanding cast that includes Josh O’Connor, Alana Haim, John Magaro, Hope Davis, Amanda Plummer and Bill Camp; and a synopsis that feels like Reichardt’s most commercial prospect yet while also not betraying what makes her films so special. Set in 1970, it follows a group of thieves who rob a museum and then have trouble keeping their stolen paintings under wraps. While Mubi co-produced the movie (and is handling domestic distribution), other territories are available. “The Mastermind” is also in competition at Cannes, so if it takes home one of the top prizes, it could be even more desirable.
Nouvelle Vague (Richard Linklater)
American auteur Richard Linklater’s latest “Nouvelle Vague” will probably be irresistible to the Cannes Film Festival crowd (and hopefully a few distributors too). The film is based on the making of Jean-Luc Godard’s immortal classic “Breathless,” and stars Guillaume Marbeck as Jean-Luc Godard, Zoey Deutch as Jean Seberg and Aubry Dullin as Jean-Paul Belmondo. (François Truffaut, Claude Chabrol, Agnès Varda and Jean Cocteau are also characters in the movie – it’s like the Criterion Collection sprung to life!) The film doesn’t have distribution anywhere yet, which is a little odd, but it’s also in competition for the Palme d’Or and if it wins one of the top prizes that could generate some heat. Linklater is one of his generation’s most celebrated artists and we have no doubt this will get snapped up fast. The only problem is that “Blue Moon,” Linklater’s award-winning movie that premiered at Berlin, is also slated for release this year. Could we face a Linklater logjam?
Sentimental Value (Joachim Trier)
The last time Joachim Trier was at Cannes, with “The Worst Person in the World,” he was up for the Palme d’Or and his star Renate Reinsve won the Best Actress award for her performance. NEON picked up the domestic rights to the film and Mubi took the UK, Irish and Indian rights. It was eventually nominated for the Best International Feature and Best Original Screenplay Academy Awards. Can Trier chart a similar trajectory for his new film, “Sentimental Value,” which is described as an “exploration of family, memories, and the reconciliatory power of art” (and once again stars Reinsave)? We will see. His latest, which also stars Stellan Skarsgård, Elle Fanning and Cory Michael Smith, is in competition. And while Mubi once again has swooped in (for UK, Ireland, Latin America, Turkey and India), with other territories being handled by individual distributors, an American distributor remains out of reach. Will NEON return? Maybe A24 make a bid? Or Focus Features? Only time will tell.
The Young Mother’s Home (Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne)
Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, now in their 70’s, keep on trucking. Their latest (which they wrote, directed and produced), about five young mothers in a housing center, will premiere at Cannes and be in competition for the Palme d’Or. Their last film, 2022’s “Tori and Lokita,” was picked up by Sideshow and Janus Films (the companies behind recent Oscar winner “Flow”). Could they return for the Belgian auteurs’ latest? The brothers are legitimate Cannes royalty – they have won the Palme d’Or twice (in 1999 for “Rosetta” and in 2005 for “L’Enfant”), won the Best Screenplay award at the festival (for 2008’s “Lorna’s Silence) and the Grand Prix (for 2011’s “The Kid with a Bike”). They won the Best Director prize in 2019’s “Young Ahmed” and won a 75th anniversary Special Prize in 2022 (for “Tori and Lokita”). Who knows what their newest will take home.
The Chronology of Water (Kristen Stewart)
Kristen Stewart makes her feature debut with “The Chronology of Water,” based on Lidia Yuknavitch’s 2011 memoir of the same name and produced by Ridley Scott and Scott Free. In the book Yuknavitch (played in the film by the always-wonderful Imogen Poots) plays a Texas woman who escapes an abusive relationship via a swimming scholarship, later working with Ken Kesey on his collaborative novel “Caverns” while at the University of Oregon. The film will premiere in the Un Certain Regard section of the festival, so it’s not up for the Palme d’Or, but the movie has a tremendous cast that includes Thora Birch, Kim Gordon, Jim Belushi and Tom Sturridge and a story that includes everything from BDSM to drug and alcohol abuse – with a happy, inspirational ending, no less. So far the movie only has distribution in France (via Les Films du Losange). After the festival, it should have a whole lot more.
Urchin (Harris Dickinson)
Another actor-turned-director in the Un Certain Regard section of the festival is Harris Dickinson, who you will know from “The King’s Man,” “Triangle of Sadness,” “The Iron Claw” and “Babygirl” (he’ll also be portraying John Lennon soon in Sam Mendes’ quarter of Beatles films). “Urchin” his debut feature as a director, sounds indebted to the social realist films of Mike Leigh and, yes, the Dardenne brothers, as it follows a drifter (Frank Dillane) as he struggles to reintegrate into society. The film was co-produced by BBC Film and the BFI but so far doesn’t have distribution set up anywhere. That should change very soon.
