So far at the Cannes Film Festival, we’ve seen the movie where a guy finds a way to combine sodomy and euthanasia (“Staying Vertical”), and the comedy about things like cannibalism and incest (“Slack Bay”), and Julia Roberts and George Clooney walking the same red carpet as unknown Romanians.
But then, on Friday night in the Salle Debussy theater, along came Maren Ade’s spectacular “Toni Erdmann” to send a message:
You ain’t seen nothing yet.
The most delightful surprise of the festival so far, German director Ade has made a generous, hysterically funny but deeply touching father-daughter story that lasts for two hours and 42 minutes but doesn’t waste a moment and doesn’t feel anywhere near that long.
At a festival full of bold, messy films that make you want to give them the benefit of the doubt, this one is a knockout that doesn’t need any allowances.
A veteran of only two previous films, Ade is one of three women in the 21-film main competition, the same as last year and more than most previous years. (The other two are Nicole Garcia with “Mal de Pierres” and Andrea Arnold with “American Honey.”) Hers was the first of the three to screen, and Garcia, Arnold and all their male competitors now have a tough act to follow.
The film is about a free-spirited father who’s dismayed by the corporate lifestyle adapted by his grown daughter; to loosen her up and find out if she can rediscover her sense of humor, he adopts the character of a loutish con man named Toni Erdmann and throws a series of monkey wrenches into her high-pressure business life.
Sandra Hüller plays the daughter, Peter Simonischek the father, and they both have to be strong contenders for Cannes acting honors — particularly Hüller, who’s certainly the leader in the clubhouse for the best-actress award.
She and Simonischek both let us see the sadness that lurks just beneath their controlled and carefree facades, respectively, and both almost immediately give us a relationship that feels real, lived in and fraught with memories both joyful and painful.
For a while you might start to wonder why Hüller’s character would even allow her rampaging jokester of a father back into her work environment, but the final stretch of the film is such a genuine pleasure that you wouldn’t have it any other way.
And the payoffs are glorious, starting with Hüller performing Whitney Houston‘s “The Greatest Love of All” with such unnerving gusto in the middle of an Orthodox egg-painting party in Budapest that the Cannes audience burst into spontaneous applause in the middle of the song.
A few minutes later, Ade and Hüller topped themselves with a birthday brunch that began as a virtuoso piece of physical comedy involving a too-tight cocktail dress, and ended up as an impromptu all-nude brunch (for “team building,” you understand) that was crashed by dad, all dressed up as an eight-foot, hairy creature of indeterminate species.
The scene was hysterically funny, then very uncomfortable, then downright tragic, then hysterical again; in a festival whose films often deal in shades of darkness, it was a delightful blast of exuberance that also managed to be deeply touching.
So is all of “Toni Erdmann.” With two screenings on Friday night in advance of its official premiere on Saturday, this is now the Cannes movie you’ve got to see.
11 Best Cannes Moments, From Madonna to Jerry Lewis' Hotel-Trashing Poodle (Photos)
"In 1991, Sean Penn had directed a movie ['The Indian Runner'] and Madonna was in a different movie ['Truth or Dare']. This was after their marriage had broken up. Roger and I went to a nice party, and he spoke to Charles Bronson and Sean Penn and this other lady sitting next to Sean. And eventually Roger said to me, 'I'm tired and I have to get up early, but I know my editors will want something about Sean and Madonna. So I have to wait until she gets here.' I said, 'You've been talking to her for the last half hour.'"
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Jessica Chastain: "Cannes was really my first festival. I was there with 'The Tree of Life,' and I walked down my first red carpet with Brad Pitt and Sean Penn, the three of us holding each other's hands. But I was also there for this very small film I made for $100 a day ['Take Shelter'], which won the grand prize at Critics' Week, and 'The Wettest County in the World' [renamed 'Lawless'], which had a bidding war that Harvey Weinstein won...
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Jessica Chastain continues: "And on the last day of the festival I was back home, having breakfast with one of the producers of 'Wettest County,' and my phone kept going off. And I finally picked it up, and there was a text: 'Palme d'Or, "Tree of Life."' I actually started crying in the middle of the restaurant. I feel like my career was born in Cannes."
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Mark Damon, CEO, Foresight Unlimited: "We brought Jerry Lewis to Cannes way back in 1983 for 'The King of Comedy.' Well, he not only insisted on a suite for himself, but also a separate suite for his dog at the Carlton. A tiny little French poodle had a suite all to himself! The dog wound up shitting all over the carpet and the Carlton Hotel expelled Jerry and his dog before he could do any promotional work for us."
Jerry Lewis
Elizabeth Kim Schwan, President of International, Covert Media: "In one of my early years of attending Cannes, I went to the premiere of 'About Schmidt.' Walking down the red carpet I was enjoying the moment, looking up at the Palais and the steps to the theater. Suddenly the paparazzi began to take notice of me, yelling at me to get my attention, and the flashes started going off. I wondered who they were mistaking me for when suddenly I realized they were yelling 'bouge!' to me, which means 'move!' Turns out Gina Gershon was right behind me."
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Stuart Ford, CEO, IM Global: "My No. 1 memory arises from a few years ago when Martin Scorsese and I spent a day in a Majestic penthouse suite jointly pitching key foreign distributors on his career-long passion project 'Silence' [now in postproduction]. It was Marty's first-ever experience personally pre-selling his movie in Cannes -- but I was all the time wondering to myself, 'Why the hell does he need me here?' That's a guy who knows how to pitch a movie."
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Nadine de Barros, co-founder, Fortitude International: "I was at the Majestic, and there was a buyer at the concierge desk -- he'd forgotten to put his suitcase into the taxi. The concierge calls the airport, then turns to the buyer and says, 'I'm sorry, but your suitcase? Kaboom!' The airport had blown the suitcase up since it was sitting out front and no one was there to claim it. The buyer did the entire Cannes market with holes burned in his sweater, suits and pants -- anything that hadn't been totally burned to a crisp. That's why I hand-carry all my clothes on the plane."
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Mimi Steinbauer, CEO, Radiant Films International: "My very favorite Cannes memory is being up at a fabulous chateau for New Line's party when we were selling the 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy. The best moment was when black horses and horsemen came riding across the lawn in front of the chateau. As the evening drew to a close the owner of the chateau, a dashing older gentlemen seemingly straight out of a movie set, asked me to move to France and live there with him--not really my cup of tea, but a fun path-not-chosen moment in life."
Joni Sighvatsson, chairman, Scanbox International: "My first Cannes was back in 1986, with my then-partner at Propaganda Films, Steve Golin, and Michael Kuhn. The three of us rented a tiny apartment, bunking together to make ends meet, running up and down the Croisette talking to anyone that would listen. Fast-forward four years, we were standing alongside David Lynch on the Palais stage, accepting the Palme D' Or for 'Wild at Heart.' That night was a blur, but we partied hard at the Carlton, and all I remember is the five-figure champagne bill."
Laura Walker, CEO, AG Capital: "In 2011 or 2012 I got a call in the middle of the night from someone telling me Sean Combs' yacht needed to be parked at the old port next to the Palais. I made some calls begging, borrowing and negotiating to make it happen. I got him the only parking spot where his yacht would fit, and I became his agent after that. Then he threw a big party, which was very generous, and I got to invite all my friends."
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Ashok Amritraj, CEO, Hyde ParkEntertainment: "For many years, we used to have a party on a boat. I remember the last year the weather was so bad that I had more guests throwing up than watching the fashion show we put on, with models walking around. It may not be the happiest story, but it illustrates how unpredictable Cannes is at every turn."
Joachim Trier, director: "My grandfather, Erik Løchen, made a small Norwegian film, 'The Chasers,' that competed in the main competition in 1960, in the same program as Antonioni, Fellini, Buñuel, Bergman -- can you imagine? And the Norwegian media and public didn't really care. So when I was there last year with 'Louder Than Bombs' and I walked up the staircase to the Grand Palais as the first co-produced Norwegian film in the main competition in 36 years, I was thinking about my grandfather, who passed away when I was 9. And now the Norwegian media cared."
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Cannes veterans tell TheWrap their favorite stories about the festival
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