The Cannes Film Festival, which will kick off Tuesday, is such a colossal extravaganza that taking measure of its ups and downs is notoriously difficult. It’s a showcase of the world’s best cinema. It’s a red-carpet spectacular. It’s a French Riviera hive of dealmaking.
But by at least some metrics, Cannes — following a canceled
2020 festival, a much-diminished 2021 edition and a triumphant 2022 return — is
finally all the way back.
“Let’s just say it’s gotten very hard to get restaurant
reservations again,” says Christine Vachon, the veteran producer and longtime
collaborator of Todd Haynes.
When the 76th Cannes Film Festival opens Tuesday with the
premiere of “Jeanne du Barry,” a historical drama by Maïwenn starring Johnny
Depp, the gleaming Côte d’Azur pageant can feel confident that it has weathered
the storms of the pandemic and the perceived threat of streaming. ( Netflix and
Cannes remain at an impasse.)
Last year’s festival, a banner one by most judgments,
produced three Oscar best-picture nominees (“Top Gun: Maverick,” “Elvis” and
the Palme d’Or winner “Triangle of Sadness” ), again proving Cannes as the
premier global launching pad for films big and small.
A BLOCKBUSTER CANNES
This year’s festival is headlined by a pair of marquee
premieres: Martin Scorsese’s Osage Nation 1920s epic “Killers of the Flower
Moon,” with Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro, and James Mangold’s “Indiana
Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” starring Harrison Ford in his final performance
as the character.
But as blockbuster as Cannes can be, even those films
suggest the wide spectrum of cinema on hand. Both Scorsese and Mangold were
first in Cannes decades ago to premiere their early breakthrough films in the
Directors’ Fortnight sidebar: Scorsese with 1973′s “Mean Streets,” Mangold with
1995’s “Heavy.”
This time, though, they’ll debut much bigger films, sure to
be the hottest tickets on the Croisette. Scorsese has his $200 million epic for
Apple TV+. And Mangold will premiere, as he says, “a more splendiferous
project” than his minimalist debut.
The “Indy” celebration will include a tribute to Ford. He,
along with Michael Douglas, will be given honorary Palme d’Ors. To Mangold,
it’s a chance for Ford to embrace the franchise’s international following. The
“Indiana Jones” films’ essence, the director says, is rooted in golden-age
cinema.
“These are things where you’re taking your guidance from the
classics,” Mangold says. “That’s something that’s really appreciated by the
French about American cinema. In many ways, they revere the old pictures more
than even the audience in the United States do. That makes it a really
wonderful platform.”
This image released by Lucasfilm shows Harrison Ford in a scene from "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny." (Lucasfilm Ltd. via AP)
A RECORD HIGH FOR FEMALE FILMMAKERS
This year, 21 films are competing for the Palme d’Or, which
will be decided by a jury led by last year’s winner, Swedish writer-director
Ruben Östlund. Seven are directed by women, a new high for Cannes in its nearly
eight decades of existence. Among the most anticipated is Italian filmmaker
Alice Rohrwacher’s “La Chimera,” starring Josh O’Connor and Isabella
Rossellini.
The festival, running through May 27, will unspool against
the backdrop of labor unrest on both sides of the Atlantic. France has been
beset in recent months by protests over pension reforms, including raising the
retirement age. In the U.S., screenwriters are on strike to seek better pay in
the streaming era.
The prospect of a prolonged work stoppage could potentially
drive up prices for finished films at Cannes, the world’s top movie market.
Among the titles seeking distribution is Haynes’ “May December,” which stars
Natalie Portman as a journalist who embeds with a couple (Julianne Moore,
Charles Melton) once renowned for their age discrepancy.
Though arthouses have struggled to match the box-office
recovery at multiplexes, Vachon, a producer on “May December,” says her
company, Killer Films, and the indie stalwart Haynes are accustomed to
“pivoting endlessly and finding opportunities no matter what the sea winds
bring.”
AUTEURS AND A-LISTERS
As usual, this year’s competition lineup returns plenty of
Cannes heavyweights, including Hirokazu Kore-eda (“Monster”), Wim Wenders
(“Perfect Days”), Nuri Bilge Ceylan (“About Dry Grasses”), Ken Loach (“The Old
Oak”) and Nanni Moretti (“A Brighter Tomorrow”).
Jonathan Glazer’s “The Zone of Interest,” shot in Auschwitz,
is one of the festival’s most eagerly awaited films. It’s his first since 2013’s
“Under the Skin.” Pedro Almodóvar will premiere the short “Strange Way of
Life,” with Pedro Pascal and Ethan Hawke. Wes Anderson, flanked by another
starry ensemble, will debut “Asteroid City.”
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This image released by Focus Features shows writer-director Wes Anderson on the set of "Asteroid City." (Roger Do Minh/Pop. 87 Productions/Focus Features via AP) |
There’s also the upcoming HBO series “The Idol,” from “Euphoria” filmmaker Sam Levinson starring Abel Tesfaye — also known as the Weeknd — and Lily-Rose Depp; “Firebrand” with Alicia Vikander as Catherine Parr and Judd Law as Tudor King Henry VIII; and the Pixar movie “Elemental,” which closes the festival.
Steve McQueen, the “12 Years a Slave” filmmaker, will debut
the longest film playing at Cannes and one of its most thought-provoking.
“Occupied City,” which McQueen made with his wife, Dutch author Bianca Stigter,
is a four-hour-plus documentary that combines narration detailing violent
incidents across Amsterdam during the Nazi occupation with present-day footage
from those locations.
McQueen, too, began his feature filmmaking career at Cannes.
His 2008 debut, “Hunger,” won the Camera d’Or, a prize for best first film.
“It’s never as good as the first time,” McQueen says.
“But it’s the most important film festival,” continues
McQueen. “Our film is asking questions. This is where you want to premiere
films that challenge and films that ask questions. You’re right on the front
line.”
POTENTIAL BREAKTHROUGHS
While many eyes will be on reactions to the new Scorsese or
“Asteroid City,” Cannes will, as it does every year, bring new directors to
wider film audiences. Senegalese filmmaker Ramata-Toulaye Sy’s “Banel &
Adama” is the rare first feature in Palme competition.
Argentine filmmaker Rodrigo Moreno, 50, will be making his
first trip to Cannes with “The Delinquents,” a heist drama sprinkled with
existentialism and cinematic flourishes. It’s one of the highlights of the Un
Certain Regard section.
The film took Moreno five years to make, partially because
of the pandemic. But its Cannes selection is a long time coming in another way.
Moreno’s first feature as a solo director was invited to both Un Certain Regard
and main competition at Berlin. The producers chose Berlin.
“At this point of my career. I’m focused on: If this allows
me to keep on working and make the next film, to me, that’s OK. It’s the only
thing I really want,” says Moreno.
“The shooting of this film spanned almost five years, which
is crazy,” he adds. “But the nice side of that is that every year, I had to
shoot. The one thing I knew was that a new year began, and I had to shoot. And
the following, I had to shoot.”