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Cannes Film Festival · 2021

Cannes Film Festival 2021

Critics' Week

Programme

10 films · 6 reviews

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Amparo

Colombia 1998, Amparo, a single mother, struggles to free her teenage son after he is drafted by the army and assigned to a war zone.

(Country: Colombia, Sweden, Qatar, Germany; Year: 2021; Director: Simón Mesa Soto; Writer: Simón Mesa Soto; Stars: John Montoya, Luciana Gallego, Diego Alejandro Tobûn, Sandra Melissa Torres, John Montoya, Luciana Gallego, Diego Alejandro Tobûn, Sandra Melissa Torres)

Feathers

When a magic trick goes awry at a children’s birthday party, the authoritative father of the family turns into a chicken. An avalanche of coincidental absurdities befalls everyone...

(Country: Egypt, Netherlands, Greece, France; Year: 2021; Director: Omar El Zohairy; Writer: Ahmed Amer, Omar El Zohairy; Stars: Samy Bassouny, Mohamed Abd El Hady, Fady Mina Fawzy, Demyana Nassar, Abo Sefen Nabil Wesa)

The Gravedigger's Wife (La Femme du fossoyeur)

Review preview for The Gravedigger's Wife

There's a straightforwardness to the telling of this tale that adds to its accessibility.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
A gravedigger finds himself up against it as he tries to get the cash together to help his gravely ill wife get medical treatment.

(Country: Finland, Germany, France; Year: 2021; Director: Khadar Ahmed; Writer: Khadar Ahmed; Stars: Omar Abdi, Yasmin Warsame, Kadar Abdoul-Aziz Ibrahim, Samaleh Ali Obsieh, Hamdi Ahmed Omar, Awa Ali Nour, Amina Ayanleh)

Full review

Libertad

Nora's quiet life is turned upside down when, during her summer holidays, this naive 15-year old comes across Libertad, also 15. This new, intense friendship between the two utterly different girls will guide them towards adolescence.

(Country: Spain, Belgium; Year: 2021; Director: Clara Roquet; Writer: Clara Roquet; Stars: Nora Navas, Maria Rodríguez Soto, Maria Morera Colomer, Vicky Peña)

Olga

Review preview for Olga

The first-time director shows an adept grip when it comes to the rhythms of her craft, letting silence or specific sounds break out at unexpected moments, including a gripping scene when all we can hear is the spring and creak of the uneven bars.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
2013. A 15-year-old gymnast is torn between Switzerland - where she is training for the European Championship in preparation for the Olympics - and Ukraine, where her mother is a journalist, reporting on Euromaidan unrest.

(Country: France, Switzerland, Ukraine; Year: 2021; Director: Elie Grappe; Writer: Raphaëlle Desplechin, Elie Grappe; Stars: Stéphanie Chuat, Aleksandr Mavrits, Philippe Schuler, Bernd Würch)

Full review

A Radiant Girl (Une Jeune Fille Qui Va Bien)

Review preview for A Radiant Girl

The best scenes are those where the human condition and awareness of teenagers everywhere at the cusp of adulthood encounters the unfathomable.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 4 out of 5
Paris, summer 1942. Irene is Jewish and French. She is 19 and living a life of passions - Her friendships, her new love, her desire to be an actress. Nothing suggests that Irene's time is running out.

(Country: France; Year: 2021; Director: Sandrine Kiberlain; Writer: Sandrine Kiberlain; Stars: Rebecca Marder, Françoise Widhoff, André Marcon, Anthony Bajon, Ben Attal, India Hair, Cyril Metzger, Léa Rostain, Florence Viala, Jean Chevalier, Lucie Gallo)

Full review

Robust (Robuste)

Review preview for Robust

There's a subtlety to all this that speaks well of Meyer's thoughtfulness - she never goes for easy options such as having one character be prejudiced against the other, instead simply allowing a respectful attitude to grow into an increasingly strengthening bond.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
An actor forges and unlikely friendship with the woman assigned to provide him with security.

(Country: France; Year: 2021; Director: Constance Meyer; Writer: Constance Meyer, Marcia Romano; Stars: Gérard Depardieu, Déborah Lukumuena, Megan Northam, Lucas Mortier, Caroline Donnelly, Hugues Duchêne, Lola Dueñas, Florence Janas, Théodore Le Blanc, Julie Lesgages, François Loriquet, Cédric Meusburger, Léa Millet, Florence Muller, Sébastien Pouderoux)

Full review See: A Robust approach - Constance Meyer on her debut film

Small Body (Piccolo Corpo)

Review preview for Small Body

It is impossible to deny the director's poetic and aesthetic talent, as well as her ability to offer a critical deconstruction of social relations through a seemingly simple story.

Mateusz Tarwacki · 3.5 out of 5
Italy, 1900. Young Agata’s baby is stillborn and so condemned to Limbo. Agata hears about a place in the mountains, where infants can be brought back to life for just one breath, to baptise them and save their soul. She undertakes a voyage with her daughter’s small body hidden in a box and meets Lynx, a solitary boy who offers to help her.

(Country: Italy, France, Slovenia; Year: 2021; Director: Laura Samani; Writer: Marco Borromei, Elisa Dondi, Laura Samani; Stars: Celeste Cescutti, Ondina Quadri)

Full review

Softie (Petite Nature)

Review preview for Softie

Theis approaches the coming-of-age formula in a refreshingly new way that focuses on the beauty of weakness.

Stephanie Brown · 5 out of 5
Things change for a sensitive youngster from a deprived area after a new teacher takes over his class.

(Country: France; Year: 2021; Director: Samuel Theis; Writer: Samuel Theis; Stars: Ilario Gallo, Izïa Higelin, Melissa Olexa, Antoine Reinartz, Aliocha Reinert, Jade Schwartz)

Full review

Zero Fucks Given (Rien à foutre)

Cassandra is a flight attendant for a low-cost airline. Based in Lanzarote, she’s always willing to take on extra hours and carries out her duties with robotic efficiency. On the side, she just goes with the flow and floats between Tinder, parties and lazy days. When she suddenly gets dismissed, she is forced to return home. Will Cassandre find the force to confront what she was running away from?

(Country: France, Belgium; Year: 2021; Director: Julie Lecoustre, Emmanuel Marre; Writer: Julie Lecoustre, Emmanuel Marre; Stars: Adèle Exarchopoulos, Jonathon Sawdon, Jean-Benoît Ugeux, Mara Taquin, Alexandre Perrier)