by Helen Barlow
When Cannes Festival director Thierry Fremaux announced the films in the official selection of the festival’s 76th programme yesterday, it was by no means complete. At the same time in 2019, the inclusion of Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time…In Hollywood was not a done deal and Fremaux was sheepish about any mention of the film, which was ultimately included.
Whether any blockbusters will be added this year is unlikely, as several were already announced. After the 2022 festival provided a strong launching pad for the box office hits, Top Gun: Maverick and Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Harrison Ford’s fifth outing as Indy, will have its world premiere at the festival. Indy is now 80, but Ford has been de-aged for the earlier scenes. The previous film in the series, The Crystal Skull, launched on the Croisette in 2008, so there is something of a tradition there. The film releases on June 28 in Australia.
When it came to Martin Scorsese’s fact-based sprawling crime drama Killers of the Flower Moon, many expected the film to land in Venice, given its October release date. Yet reports cite that the film’s star, Leonardo DiCaprio, was keen for the premiere to take place in Cannes after Once Upon A Time…In Hollywood had managed to sustain a momentum well into the awards season after its Cannes splash. Killers of the Flower Moon, which was adapted by Eric Roth from David Grann’s book, tells of murdered members of the Osage tribe in north-eastern Oklahoma and the FBI investigation that followed. Scorsese’s buddy Robert De Niro also stars alongside indigenous actor Lily Gladstone. Scorsese, 80, won the Palme d’Or for Taxi Driver in 1976 and the Cannes best director prize for After Hours in 1985.
Also previously announced is Maiwenn’s French historical feature Jeanne du Barry starring Johnny Depp as King Louis XV, which will open the festival. We can’t wait to hear how Depp copes speaking the French language in his first film in three years. Maiwenn stars as the titular character and the King’s lover, whom he brings to live in the Versailles Palace even though she isn’t a noble. Melvil Poupaud co-stars.
Likewise confirmed earlier was Pedro Almodovar’s queer half-hour western, Strange Way of Life, shot in the south of Spain and starring Pedro Pascal and Ethan Hawke. Pascal plays a man who visits his longtime sheriff friend and former lover after 25 years apart. In a statement, Almodovar says “The strange way of life referred to in the title alludes to the famous fado by Amalia Rodrigues, whose lyrics suggest that there is no stranger existence than the one that is lived by turning your back on your own desires.” He also told IndieWire that the film is his “answer to Brokeback Mountain” after he’d been in talks to direct the 2004 drama starring Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, when as always, he didn’t trust the Hollywood system. “Hollywood wants to bring in outside talent, but they don’t always let them do what they want to do,” he said.
So far, only one Australian film, Warwick Thornton’s The New Boy has made the Cannes cut. Cate Blanchett co-produces and co-stars in the film, which will premiere in Un Certain Regard, where Samson & Delilah screened in 2009, winning Thornton the Camera d’Or for best first film. Set in 1940s, The New Boy follows a nine-year-old Aboriginal orphan (newcomer Aswan Reid) who arrives in the dead of night at a remote monastery, run by a renegade nun (Blanchett). His presence disturbs the delicately balanced world in a story of spiritual struggle and the cost of survival. Other cast members include Deborah Mailman and Wayne Blair who directed the actress in The Sapphires, which premiered in Cannes in 2012.
We shall see if any further Australian entries are announced in the official selection or in the festival sidebars, Critics’ Week and Directors’ Fortnight.
It was widely anticipated that Wes Anderson’s latest film would screen in the competition, which Fremaux confirmed. A Cannes regular, who previously premiered The French Dispatch and Moonrise Kingdom at the festival, Anderson co-wrote his new comedy Asteroid City with Roman Coppola. As usual, he has attracted a stellar cast, which includes Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Jason Schwartzman, Jeffrey Wright, Tilda Swinton, Margot Robbie and Steve Carrel, who replaced Anderson regular Bill Murray, as he reportedly caught Covid just before cameras rolled.
Set in a fictional American desert town circa 1955, the film’s synopsis reads: The itinerary of a Junior Stargazer/Space Cadet convention (organised to bring together students and parents from across the country for fellowship and scholarly competition) is spectacularly disrupted by world-changing events. The film releases in Australia on June 22.
The competition jury will be headed by Swedish director Ruben Ostlund, the two-time Palme d’Or winner for The Square and Triangle of Sadness.
Other competition contenders include the welcome return of Finnish director Aki Kaurismaki with Fallen Leaves, his first film in six years; Hirokazu Kore-eda returns to Japan with Monster, which was scored by the late, great Ryuichi Sakamoto; France’s Catherine Breillat makes her comeback after health problems with Last Summer; Tran Anh Hung with La Passion De Dodin Bouffant presents a 19th century story about a famous chef, starring Juliette Binoche; Todd Haynes has May December starring Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore; Italy’s Alice Rohrwacher presents her third competition film, La Chimera, alongside another regular Italian attendee Nanni Moretti who has Il Sol dell’Avvenire; Jonathan Glazer (Sexy Beast, Under the Skin) presents his first film in a decade, The Zone of Interest, based on a novel by Martin Amis; while fellow Brit Ken Loach has The Old Oak.
The latter film is named after the last remaining pub in a village in England’s north-east, where people are leaving because the mines have closed. The houses are cheap and available, so it becomes an ideal location for Syrian refugees. When Fremaux called Loach to advise of the film’s inclusion the director asked, “Are you sure you can understand this kind of English?” Fremaux thought this might be the 86-year-old’s final film and knew he had to grab it.
Likewise, when Germany’s Wim Wenders discovered that he had two films in the official selection, he told Fremaux “At my age I don’t know if I can promote two movies!” The 77-year-old has Perfect Days in the competition and a documentary on artist Anselm Kiefer in the special screenings.
CANNES 2023 OFFICIAL SELECTION
COMPETITION
Club Zero, Jessica Hausner
The Zone of Interest, Jonathan Glazer
Fallen Leaves, Aki Kaurismaki
Four Daughters, Kaouther Ben Hania
Asteroid City, Wes Anderson
Anatomie d’Une Chute, Justine Triet
Monster, Hirokazu Kore-eda
Il Sol dell’Avvenire, Nanni Moretti
La Chimera, Alice Rohrwacher
L’Eté Dernier, Catherine Breillat
La Passion De Dodin Bouffant, Tran Anh Hung
About Dry Grasses, Nuri Bilge Ceylan
May December, Todd Haynes
Rapito, Marco Bellocchio
Firebrand, Karim Ainouz
The Old Oak, Ken Loach
*Banel et Adama, Ramata-Toulaye Sy
Perfect Days, Wim Wenders
Jeunesse, Wang Bing
OUT OF COMPETITION
Killers of the Flower Moon, Martin Scorsese
Jeanne du Barry, Maïwenn
The Idol, Sam Levinson
Cobweb, Kim Jee-woon
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, James Mangold
MIDNIGHT SCREENINGS
Omar La Fraise, Elias Belkeddar
Acide, Just Philippot
Kennedy, Anurag Kashyap
CANNES PREMIERE
Le Temps d’Aimer, Katell Quillevere
Kubi, Takeshi Kitano
Cerrar los Ojos, Victor Erice
Bonnar, Pierre et Marthe, Martin Provost
SPECIAL SCREENINGS
Anselm, Wim Wenders
Occupied City, Steve McQueen
Man in Black, Wang Bing
UN CERTAIN REGARD
*How to Have Sex, Molly Manning Walker
The Delinquents, Rodrigo Moreno
Simple Comme Sylvain, Monia Chokri
The Settlers, Felipe Galvez
The Mother of All Lies, Asmae El Moodier
The Buriti Flower, Joao Salaviza & Renee Nader
*Goodbye Julia, Mohammed Kordofani
*Omen, Baloji Thasiani
The Breaking Ice, Anthony Chen
Rosalie, Stéphanie Di Giusto
The New Boy, Warwick Thornton
*If Only I Could Hibernate, Zoljargal Purevdash
*Hopeless, Kim Chang-hoon
*Rien à Perdre, Delphine Deloget
*Les Meutes, Kamal Lazraq
Terrestrial Verses, Ali Asgari & Alireza Khatami
La Regne Animal, Thomas Cailley
