Cannes at Home: Day 2 – Of Mothers and their Children

by Cláudio Alves

The second day of Cannes saw the start of the competition screenings, with Hirokazu Kore-eda and Catherine Corsini leading the pack. Though The Film Experience's writer at the festival, Elisa Giudici, wasn't convinced by the Japanese master's latest effort, Monster has been met with critical support. Nothing comparable to the reception of his Palme d'Or-winning Shoplifters, but still encouraging. As for Corsini, her Homecoming has caused controversy because of a sex scene featuring underage actors, which the director admits she'd approach differently in the future, citing the need for intimacy coaches. A masturbation scene was also eventually cut from the film after it cost production funding from France's National Cinema Centre.

Looking back at these auteur's past works, let's choose to remember less divisive fare. In both cases, familial bonds are at the forefront, tales of mothers and their children lost in dysfunction. They are Kore-eda's Nobody Knows, and Corsini's An Impossible Love…

Click to read more ...

Cannes Diary #4: Cannes gets undressed with two lesbian nuns and a naked maid.

by Elisa Guidici

by Elisa Guidici

Blame the pandemic, blame the sensuous summer in Riviera, this Festival is rated R for sure. A lot of nakedness, numerous explicit sex scenes (with a preference for cunnilingus) and in general the inability to spend a day at screenings without a full frontal or two. Sometimes journalists try to sell Cannes coverage insisting on the hotness of various movies. Well, no one needs to exaggerate this year: Benedetta gave us all the scandalous content we wanted...

Benedetta (Paul Verhoeven)
COMPETITION FILM

This historical queer drama about the forbidden love between two nuns was my most anticipated film and what an experience it was...

Click to read more ...

Cannes at Home: Day 4

by Cláudio Alves

Benedetta has arrived! Going into Cannes, Paul Verhoeven's promised delirium of Baroque nunsploitation was one of the most anticipated titles in competition. As the mixed reactions pour out of the Croisette, international expectations have only increased; Unanimous praise would be disappointing for such a film. Beyond Verhoeven in the Competition lineup, Catherine Corsini also premiered her latest La Fracture. Other promising new titles outside the competition slate are Eva Husson's Mothering Sunday and Karim Aïnouz's Mariner of the Mountains. As we wait for those four gourmet prospects to be released or come to a future festival near us, we look back at these directors' past works, to find many visions of carnality, both sensual and disturbing...

Click to read more ...