The Cannes Film Festival is nearing the end of its first week and with it, we got a buzzy new Jennifer Lawrence/Robert Pattinson drama and a Richard Linklater-directed ode to French cinema.
Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattison Hit the Red Carpet
“Die, My Love,” the long-awaited new film from Lynne Ramsay, premiered Saturday and stars Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattison were on hand to welcome it to the world.
The stars, who had each anchored their own beloved YA franchise long ago, attended the premiere alongside their director (this is the Scottish director’s first feature since 2017’s brilliant “You Were Never Really Here”) with Sissy Spacek, Mariska Hargitay and someone dressed as a turkey – or maybe it was a condor? It’s a little unclear.
As for the film itself, which stars Lawrence and Pattinson as a couple going through marital strife after the birth of their first child, it received a lengthy standing ovation (just how lengthy depends on who you believe) but was divisive according to social media sentiment, with some calling it an overwhelming, shapeless assault (there was more than one comparison to Lawrence’s similarly divisive “mother!”) while others are applauding its bravery and willingness to engage with the sometimes terrifying realities of postpartum depression. Our own critic, Chase Hutchinson, was slightly mixed but leaned towards positive, writing, “Even as it’s not Ramsay’s best film, even a minor work from the filmmaker is still better than just about any other director. There remains a haunting power that she’s able to wield over her audience.” That’s right – even if it isn’t perfect, just having a new Lynne Ramsay movie is reason enough for a celebration worthy of Cannes.
And while the movie was being tipped as one of the big acquisition titles, that acquisition came almost immediately, with Mubi picking up rights for United States distribution and other territories for more than $20 million. That includes a commitment to a 45-day theatrical window, which is very good news. Lawrence is already generating Oscar buzz. Could she nab another statue?
Linklater Goes Back in Time
Another big movie premiered Saturday – Richard Linklater’s “Nouvelle Vague,” described as “the story of Godard making ‘Breathless,’ told in the style and spirit in which Godard made ‘Breathless.’” See a teaser for it below.
Linklater and his cast were on hand, with Zoey Deutch probably the most well-known star in the bunch (she plays Jean Seberg). Linklater’s contemporary Quentin Tarantino, who came up in the American independent film scene at the same time, was also in attendance. At the end of the screening, when the audience rose to their feet, Tarantino could be seen wiping away tears. Tarantino also grabbed Linklater in a warm embrace. Fun fact: Tarantino is a famously big Jean-Luc Godard fan, naming an early production company A Band Apart after Godard’s 1964 classic “Band of Outsiders.” He also had Cliff Booth, the killer stuntman from “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” wax poetic about the French filmmaker in the novelization of the film that Tarantino also wrote. (Cliff wasn’t so fond of Truffaut.)
Most of the reviews of Linklater’s ode to French cinema were glowing, with TheWrap’s Ben Croll singling out Linklater’s impeccable craft as he chronicles the making of “Breathless” in the style of “Breathless.” (It currently has a 75 on Metacritic.) Basically – if you love French filmmaking, movies about moviemaking and the kind of loosey-goosey hangout movies that Linklater has made famous over his career, then this one is probably going to be for you. We cannot wait.
Kristen Stewart Gets Candid
Kristen Stewart, riding high off the rapturous response to her directorial debut “The Chronology of Water,” sat down with TheWrap as part of our Cannes Conversations in partnership with Brand Innovators. The resulting chat was a frank discussion about the creative process and what it was like to bring her dream movie across the finish line.
“We got home and I was like, ‘I think I killed everything. I think everything’s dead,’” Stewart told TheWrap founder and CEO Sharon Waxman, adding that when she started to see what her actors brought to the screen, the film evolved. “Then I opened up all these stunning, beautiful gifts and I was like, ‘No, no, we just did something different.’ Ingratiating yourself to newness is difficult. It’s like you have to mourn the loss of a thing.”
Read more about the eight-year journey to bring “The Chronology of Water,” an adaptation of Lidia Yuknavitch’s 2011 memoir of the same name (with Imogen Poots playing Yuknavitch), above.
Reviews
Oh you know we’ve got some more Cannes reviews for you, too.
“Dangerous Animals,” a decidedly un-Cannes title that was playing in the Directors’ Fortnight section of the festival, about a serial killer (Jai Courtney) who feeds his victims to sharks, also made its debut. It hails from unsung Australian auteur Sean Byrne and our reviewer said that it “has plenty of good bones in the bloody chum that it throws out into the water.” It will be released theatrically this summer, which is perfect considering another shark-filled classic, “Jaws,” is celebrating its 50th anniversary.
Additionally, documentary “Orwell: 2+2=5,” about the legendary author George Orwell, premiered. Obviously, the documentary is going to draw some more modern-day parallels, considering all that is going on in the world. And our critic found it fascinating and gripping. “The rest of the movie is far too nuanced to be a simple polemic against the Trump administration, but there’s a reason why [director] Peck pulled ‘Orwell’ out of Sundance and delayed its release until Cannes: because he kept finding things that needed to be said about ties between Orwell’s work and the current U.S.A,” wrote our reviewer.
Why don’t we leave you with the Eurythmics’ theme song to the version of Orwell’s “1984” released in, you guessed it, 1984.
