74th Cannes. The Competition Lineup!
Thursday, June 3, 2021 at 12:24PM by Nathaniel R
The official lineup for the 74th Cannes Film Festival has been announced. It's always an exciting time for cinephiles, doubly so this year since the festival had to be cancelled last season due to COVID-19. This year four actors have multiple films in contention: Tilda Swinton, Charlotte Rampling, Anders Danielsen Lie, and the probably queen of the festival France's Léa Seydoux who has three films in the main competition and another in Un Certain Regard! We already know that Spike Lee will be presiding over the jury, since he was supposed to do that last year (though we don't know who will be on the jury with him yet).
Cannes has been criticized for years for their lack of gender parity in direction. They're likedly to be criticized again with only 4 of the 24 competition films from female auteurs but that's actually a huge improvement for the world's most famous film festival. As per usual French and English language films dominate though there are actually only three films from the USA in competition this year (Flag Day, The French Dispatch, and Red Rocket) Anyway let's look at the official lineup. More to come since there are other sections, too.
24 Official Competition Films
Who will win the Palme D'Or, Director, and Acting prizes. Care to place any bets?
AHED'S KNEE (Nadav Lapid, Israel)
From the director of Synonyms and The Kindergarten Teacher. In short, he's talented and his films can be bracing. The plot involves an Israeli filmmaker and his dying mother?
ANNETTE (Leos Carax, France)
Amazon will release the latest from the perpetually surprising Carax but this sure-to-be strange musical is premiering at Cannes as the Opening Night film. Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard star.
BENEDETTA (Paul Verhoeven, The Netherlands)
Infamous provocateur and great director Paul Verhoeven's latest is a 17th century set French-language lesbian nun movie that takes place during The Plague. Virginia Efira (Sibyl, Elle) is the leading lady. International stars Charlotte Rampling and Lambert Wilson lend support.
BERGMAN ISLAND (Mia Hansen-Love, France)
An English language drama about an American filmmaking couple making pilgrimage to the island that inspired Sweden's most famous director. Mia Wasikowska, Tim Roth, The Phantom Thread's Vicky Krieps, and Norwegian star Anders Danielsen Lie are all in the cast.
CASABLANCA BEATS (Nabil Ayouch, Morocco)
From the director of Ali Zaoua: Prince of the Streets and Mektoub
COMPARTMENT NO. 6 (Juho Kuosmanen, Finland)
A train trip movie about a student travelling from Moscow to Murmansk who develops an unlikely friendship with miner sharing her compartment. From the director of The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Maki
DRIVE MY CAR (Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Japan)
A drama about an actor grieving the loss of his playwright wife from the director of Happy Hour and Asako I & II.
FLAG DAY (Sean Penn, USA)
Penn is adapting again, this time from the memoir by Jennifer Vogel about her criminal father. Dylan Penn, the daughter of Sean and Robin Wright, has the leading role. The cast is stacked which probably isn't surprising given who is in the directors chair: Josh Brolin, Eddie Marsan, Sean Penn, Norbert Leo Butz, Dale Dickey, Miles Teller, and Katheryn Winnick
LA FRACTURE (Catherine Corsini, France)
A lesbian drama that takes place in a beseiged hospital during a politically heated protest. Valerie Bruni Tedeschi and Marina Fois star.
FRANCE (Bruno Dumont, France)
IMDb lists this as "On a Half Clear Morning" and "France" as its original title so maybe they're still deciding? Leá Seydoux headlines as a celebrity journalist whose life changes after a car accident.
THE FRENCH DISPATCH (Wes Anderson, USA)
The new all-star Anderson comedy has waited over a year to premiere. It opens in October but it will first premiere at Cannes.
A HERO (Asghar Farhadi, Iran)
His Iranian films have won the Oscar twice (A Separation, The Salesman) but lately he's been experimenting with other countries making movies in French (The Past) and Spanish (Everybody Knows). He's back in Iran for a drama though apart from his own daughter (who played the main couple's daughter in A Separation) the actors are not his usual thespians. No word on the plot yet but given his past films it probably is thematically interesting and involves couples, familes, and secrets.
LINGUI (Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, Chad)
From the director of A Screaming Man and Dry Season comes a new drama about a Muslim woman trying to get an abortion.
MEMORIA (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Thailand)
This is the first English language picture for the famed enigmatic Thai filmmaker. Tilda Swinton stars as a woman with "exploding head syndrome". We had to look that up -- the sufferer awakes or falls asleep with the sensation of a loud bomb-like noise. Okay, "Joe" & Tilda. Do your thing.
NITRAM (Justin Kurzel, Australia)
The director of hard confrontational pictures like True History of the Kelly Gang and The Snowtown Murders returns with a drama about a 1996 massacre in Tasmania. Essie Davis (the director's wife and always an exceptional actress), Judy Davis, Caleb Landry Jones (as the killer), and Anthony Lapaglia star.
PARIS 13TH DISTRICT (Jacques Audiard, France)
A romantic quadrangle youth drama from one of France's greatest auteurs.
PETROV'S FLU (Kirill Serebrennikov, Russia)
A day in the life of a comic book artist.
RED ROCKET (Sean Baker, USA)
One of our favourite indie directors (Tangerine, The Florida Project, Starlet) finished his film at the last second for Cannes. Simon Rex stars as a former porn star returning to his hometown. Older Millenials and Gen X-er's might recall that Simon Rex had a brief moment of porn infamy himself after solo masturbation videos he did before becoming famous as a model / MTV VJ were released. The rest of the cast are untrained newbies as per Baker's general practices. Rex seems to have a good sense of humor about himself. His bio says "washed up crisis actor" on Twitter so that might bode well since Baker is very talented at guiding actors.
THE RESTLESS (Joachim LaFosse, Belgium)
The director of the emotionally brutal Our Children is back with a drama about bipolar disorder. Damien Bonnard and Leïla Bekhti star.
Lea Seydoux and Simone Coopo on the set of THE STORY OF MY WIFE
THE STORY OF MY WIFE (Ildikó Enyedi, Hungary)
Hungary's most internationally reknowned female director returns following her Oscar nominated On Body and Soul with a French-language period romance starring ubiquitous Gallic movie stars like Louis Garrel and Léa Seydoux as well as Simone Coopo, Romane Bohringer, and Jasmine Trinca.
THREE PIANOS
THREE PIANOS (Nanni Moretti, Italy)
A dramedy about multiple families in a condominium. Moretti is a longtime Cannes favourite and his films have won Best Director (Caro Diario, 1993), the Palme D'Or (The Son's Room, 2001), and the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury (Mia Madre, 2015)
TITANE (Julia Ducournau, France)
All we know is that Titane refers to a metal with "high tensile strength" which has "pronounced biocompatability" so perhaps this is a sci-fi drama? Vincent Lindon, Nathalie Boyer, Agathe Rousselle (pictured), are in the cast. This is Ducournau's sophomore feature. She previously made a big splash with the cannibal drama Raw (2016).
TOUS S'EST BIEN PASSÉ (François Ozon, France)
Ever-prolific Ozon follows up the gay coming of age film Summer of 85 with a new dramedy -- the English language title would be "Everything Went Well" based on a 2013 novel. The cast includes Ozon regular / legend Charlotte Rampling, German legend Hanna Schygulla, and is led by Sophie Marceau as a woman who is helping her father to die after he suffers a stroke.
THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD (Joachim Trier, Norway)
Norway's greatest (Oslo August 31st, Reprise, Thelma) returns and for the first time the film is a comedy (!). It covers four years in the life of a young woman. Trier's regular muse Anders Danielsen Lie co-stars.
Reader Comments (33)
Two films with Anders Danielsen Lie? I'd say the festival is already a success.
What a shame! No films in Spanish!
I'm VERY intrigued to see what Sean Bakes does with Simon Rex.
Flag Day is in competition? ...But why? Did the deciding jury just...forget...The Last Face? Also a great cast (better cast, even), also directed by Sean Penn, received as a...complete dumpster fire.
Wouldn't it be a gas if the Verhoeven nunsploitation film turns out to be great and it wins the Palme d'or?
Nature is healing.
I'm concerned over just what that film about the Tasmania mass murderer will be about. But it's got a heck of a cast.
Fahadi for Director (maybe Moretti or Anderson)
Annette is SO winning Palm d'Or.
Might we have Oscar nominee Simon Rex?
Two films starring Anders Anderson Lie! Maybe it will be his breakout moment finally. I loved "Oslo, August 31st" so I'm looking forward to "The Worst Person in the World."
LOL @ the BENEDETTA poster.
My predictions for the winners:
Palme d'Or: ANNETTE (WC: THE FRENCH DISPATCH)
Grand Prix: A HERO
Prix du Jury: BENEDETTA
Director: Asghar Farhadi, A HERO
Screenplay: THREE PIANOS
Actor: Adam Driver, ANNETTE (WC: Simon Rex, RED ROCKET)
Actress: Tilda Swinton, MEMORIA (WC: Mia Wasikowska & Vicky Krieps, BERGMAN ISLAND [Cannes DOES like to group winners, i.e. VOLVER]!)
Is this Marion's moment to FINALLY win Best Actress?
I won't hold my breath (as I have in the past). Hopefully this won't just be the Adam Driver show.
@Marcos. I was gonna commented the same thing. The most shameful about it is the lack of interest of people from spanish language countries for spanish language films.
Simon Rex, whoah. Never thought I'd come across that name in 2021 about Cannes.
Not into international film festivals with no movies in Spanish. Just like in a all white actors nominees at any awards show, it means they didn't dig enough for their line up.
Sean Penn trying again for the Palme d'Or? Ugh.... stop! Honestly, someone just needs to kick his self-righteous ass back to California.
thevoid99: And it's just...I know that Un Certain Regard is "supposed" to be for the weird stuff and/or the newbies, but I'd also love it if they also used it as an explicit Uncertain Regard (heh) tier, where directors whose last feature was, quantifiably, a critical mega disaster (say...<10% on Rotten Tomatoes) are forced there as a matter of courtesy to directors who HAVEN'T sucked on toast.
Happy day! Cannes competition films announced.
Some good possibilities here.
I wonder if Benedetta will be the Netherlands’ Oscar submission this year or if it being a French co-production will somehow disqualify it. I can’t imagine France choosing it as their submission unless it’s hailed as a masterpiece (which, who knows?).
I was sceptical about ANNETTE but then I saw that trailer and now the first song has been released ('So May We Start') and I want to give them all my money so I can see this NOW.
Always up for a bet when it comes to film awards.
Palme d'Or: PARIS 13TH DISTRICT
Director: Joachim Trier (THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD)
Actor: Yuri Kolokolnokov (PETROV'S FLU)
Actress: Mounira Michala (LINGUI)
Travis -- yay. glad someone played. It's so impossible because sight unseen / no reviews or reaction anything could happen. But i do wanna guess that the following actors might enter the discussion fo rthe wins
Actor
Damien Bonnard, The Restless
Adam Driver, Annette
Hidetoshi Nishijima, Drive My Car
Actress
Mounira Michala, Lingui
Lea Seydoux, France
Tilda Swinton, Memoria
Tilda Swinton for Best Actress!
@'Volvagia, @thevoid99. Uh... Sean Penn has made at least four impressive films as director (THE INDIAN RUNNER, THE CROSSING GUARD, THE PLEDGE, INTO THE WILD), even if THE LAST FACE is a "dumpster fire" (I haven't seen it.) Sounds as if, in true cancel culture fashion, you just don't like him as a person so we need to stop showing his work. Even Ingmar Bergman made ALL THESE WOMEN. And you do realize that considering the way Bergman treated people when he was alive he'd have been utterly and completely cancelled if cancel culture existed in the 50s, 60s, or 70s. Right?
I want the Ozon picture to be a great Rampling showcase, just like their other collaborations. It will be interesting to see who joins Spike Lee in the jury. And, of course, I can't wait for Annette, Memoria and The French Dispatch.
Dan: 1. All These Women wasn't THAT badly received, at the time. Cahiers still praised it. The bad reception was mostly re-evaluations. 2. Auteur jerk behaviour is always regrettable and your angle seems to be that we should basically just shut up and accept it. 3. I didn't, ultimately, SAY "stop showing his work", so much as "making bad things has consequences". That's all the bust down would be. His work would still be shown (and still shown AT CANNES), but in a less prestigious bracket. And if this new one is good? He could go back to main competition NEXT TIME.
It's Christmas again !
- Re Spanish-speaking films : Too bad Almodovar didn't finish MADRES PARALELAS in time (shooting has just wrapped).
- Sophie Marceau also stars in the Ozon.
- it's just been confirmed that the Dumont final title is FRANCE. Léa Seydoux stars in 3 Competition titles, plus the Desplechin in a parallel section.
- Here is the synopsis for "Titane", roughly translated from French :
In an airport, customs inspectors find a young man with a bruised face. He says his name is Adrien Legrand, a missing child who disappeared 10 years ago. For Vincent, his father, it's the end of a long nightmare as he brings the boy back home with him. In the meantime, a murder spree occurs in the region. Alexia, a hostess in a car showroom, seems to be the next victim.
@Volvagia. Saying, essentially, "the French critics liked it," is basically a joke from a Woody Allen film at this point. That's the one country in the world in which ALL THESE WOMEN received any level of positive response. (It makes sense, Bergman's final comedy is about as funny as a late Jerry Lewis film.) Bergman himself referred to it as an unmitigated disaster when it came up in later years. But if it makes you feel better let's change the reference from ALL THESE WOMEN to IT CAN'T HAPPEN HERE.
You seem, in terms of autuer "jerk behavior," incredulous about the notion that we might just, as you put it, "shut up and accept it", but that's basically what I'm saying we should do. We're not Ingmar Bergman's wife or son, we're not Jean-Luc Godard's girlfriend (his shitty behavior toward women was even worse, maybe, than Bergman's), we're not a jury in a courtroom. Since when did everyone in culture become the busybody little old woman in the little New England Puritan congregation, going up to her friends after the service, asking, "did you hear about what brother Richmond did? What are we going to do about it?" Would you go down a row of pantings at the MET and say, "this artist slept with women as young as 15, this one was homophobic, this one was a bigamist! I not saying these paintings should be burned, but they should certainly all be moved to the back of the museum."
It's kind of an ugly mindset in which to spend one's life.
The idea of Simon Rex being hailed as a great talent already feels exhausting.
@ Dan your are one hundred percent correct on this, cancel culture is such an ugly mindset.
The harsh reality however is that it is a huge part of human nature to be pious, resentful of others and overly censorious. The only difference is, now more so than any other time in history, our culture is being actively *encouraged* en masse to be this way, all in the guise of double-speak nonsense like 'accountability culture' and 'anti-racism' or anti-whatever 'ism'.
I fully share your frustrations on this and I have been trying in little ways to voice my concerns on this site, though I usually get dismissed as a 'troll'. Someone last week suggested that if I don't like the overly leftist angles of literary theory, for one, that I should disengage from this site and from film criticism in general. Yes, because that's surely going to help the discourse; eliminate the skepticism to keep the echo chamber as clean as possible.
Collectivism, the total weaponization of all identify politics in service to some intersectionalist utopia that cannot exist is just one side to all of this. And I also think that the phrase 'cancel culture' is too soft of a term; it's the new Cultural Revolution. Judging people of the past through a deeply unforgiving, presentist lens as an excuse to destroy Culture has been tried and tested before. We know where this leads to.
What a shame, no films from Indonesian female auteurs!!!
See, that is just stupid complaining.
These flicks are not selected based on countries or genders LMFAO
Why do I have a sneaking suspicion Rex will win Best Actor?
Paul -- you should not disengage from this site or film criticism because you aren't echo chamberish. Echo chambers (of any kind) are not in any way helpful or interesting when it comes to analyzing art. I too am exhausting by the need to destroy art of the past. i dont get the impulse. It's why i love doing retro stuff so much because i think it's fascinating to think about the context of the time something was made and deeply boring to view it only through the now (in most cases because the same thing wouild never be made or be made in such a different way as to be quite unrecogniable.