France
Stars and glamor at the Cannes Film Festival
Going to bed early: Director Joachim Trier is on the Cannes jury. Photo: Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP/dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
The 75th Cannes Film Festival is just around the corner: with stars like Tom Cruise, Kristen Stewart and Tom Hanks. What awaits us this year – and what trick a jury member has to get through the two weeks well.
The sequel to the cult film “Top Gun”, Tom Hanks in an Elvis film adaptation and Kristen Stewart between horror characters: the Cannes Film Festival is waiting with big stars and promising films.
“It looks like there will be a great selection this year,” said jury member Joachim Trier in advance of the dpa. Together with others and under the direction of actor Vincent Lindon, the director will decide who will take home the main prize, the Palme d’Or, at this year’s festival (May 17-28).
Five female directors in competition
Many star directors come to France. The competition features David Cronenberg, Kirill Serebrennikov, the Dardenne brothers and Park Chan-wook. Once again, women are outnumbered. Just five are among the 18 nominees so far, including Claire Denis and Valeria Bruni Tedeschi.
One searches in vain for German directors. A total of 24 German co-productions are on the program, three of which are in competition.
Who stands out? Iris Berben is in the new film by former Palmen winner Ruben Östlund. “Triangle of Sadness” is announced as satire about the fashion industry. The Austrian Marie Kreutzer made it onto the list of the renowned side series “Un Certain Regard” with “Corsage”, a historical drama about the aged Empress Elisabeth of Austria-Hungary.
The Bavarian composer Harold Faltermeyer has also once again made the music for the sequel to the cult film “Top Gun”. “Top Gun: Maverick”, in which Tom Cruise again stars, continues the story of the aviator ace Maverick over 30 years later. Cruise, 59, is expected to walk the red carpet, along with Tom Hanks, who is starring in a Baz Luhrmann biopic about Elvis Presley.
Lots of glamor and stars on the Croisette
And the cast of “Crimes of the Future”, the first film by director David Cronenberg in eight years, brings glamor to the Côte d’Azur: Kristen Stewart, Léa Seydoux and Viggo Mortensen are among them. In the science fiction film, the latter plays a man who has newly grown organs removed in front of an audience.
“Body horror” is the keyword: Cronenberg helped popularize this film genre, which deals with disturbing changes in the body. And so, in his new film, he has given mankind the ability to change their bodies at will and undergo transformations.
But it all starts with an opening film that caused a stir even before the festival started. The zombie comedy by Frenchman Michel Hazanavicius (“The Artist”) now has a different title than originally planned because of the war in Ukraine. After complaints from Ukraine, Hazanavicius had agreed to rename “Z (comme Z)” to “Coupez!”. The “Z” was reminiscent of the mark on Russian tanks and became a symbol of support for the Russian war of aggression among the international public. Will the war also be a theme at the festival?
And what about Corona? A legacy from last year’s pandemic version has remained: the festival has gone digital, and unlike in the past, cinema tickets can still be bought online. “All participants are strongly recommended to wear a mask in the Palais and the cinema halls,” the organizers said in advance. Cannes could not take place in 2020 and was postponed from May to July 2021.
Now everyone is longing for normality. Back to the cinemas and the beach. And at parties? Director Trier is sure that there will be celebrations again. Everyone will want to convince you to party, he said. “But the trick is to go home early.” Otherwise a tight program with several films per day would not be possible. In any case, one thing is certain: “It’s an honor and I’m really looking forward to it.”