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Cannes Film Festival · 2023

Cannes Film Festival 2023

Competition

Programme

20 films · 16 reviews

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About Dry Grasses (Kuru Otlar Üstüne)

Review preview for About Dry Grasses

It’s the multiple layers of mystery – which have less to do with actual events than with what different characters are thinking – which make the film compelling.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A young teacher hopes to be appointed to Istanbul after mandatory duty at a small village. After long time waiting he loses all hope of escaping from this gloomy life. His colleague helps him to regain his perspective.

(Country: Turkey, France, Germany, Sweden; Year: 2023; Director: Nuri Bilge Ceylan; Writer: Ebru Ceylan, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Akin Aksu; Stars: Merve Dizdar, Deniz Celiloglu, Musab Ekici)

Full review

Anatomy Of A Fall (Anatomie D'une Chute)

Review preview for Anatomy Of A Fall

Hüller has always been an unfussy actress, who allows a character's flaws to shine out in interesting ways.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A woman is accused of her husband's murder.

(Country: France; Year: 2023; Director: Justine Triet; Writer: Arthur Harari, Justine Triet; Stars: Sandra Hüller, Samuel Theis, Swann Arlaud, Jehnny Beth, Milo Machado Graner, Antoine Reinartz)

Full review

Asteroid City

Review preview for Asteroid City

Anderson has absolute command of his craft and his cast are moulded to it.

Andrew Robertson · 4 out of 5
The itinerary of a Junior Stargazer convention is spectacularly disrupted by world-changing events.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Wes Anderson; Writer: Wes Anderson, Roman Coppola; Stars: Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Jeffrey Wright, Tilda Swinton, Brian Cranston, Edward Norton, Adrien Brody, Liev Schreiber, Hope Dsvid, Steve Park)

Full review

Banel & Adama (Banel Et Adama)

A young couple in Senegal must contend with the disapproval of their remote village.

(Country: Mali, Senegal, France; Director: Ramata-Toulaye Sy; Writer: Ramata-Toulaye Sy; Stars: Khady Mane, Mamadou Diallo, Moussa Sow, Binta Racine Sy)

Black Flies

Review preview for Black Flies

The pace is relentless and raucous - so much so that many viewers will feel alienated.

Richard Mowe · 2 out of 5
A young paramedic makes his way through his first year on the job in New York City.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire; Writer: Ben Mac Brown, Ryan King, based on the book by Shannon Burke; Stars: Tye Sheridan, Sean Penn, Michael Pitt, Katherine Waterston, Mike Tyson, Gbenga Akinnagbe, Raquel Nave, Kali Ries)

Full review

La Chimera

Review preview for La Chimera

Rohrwacher’s visually eclectic style is well suited to exploring the contrasts between present and past, natural and artificial, poverty and wealth.

Jennie Kermode · 2.5 out of 5
The story of a group of archaeologists and the black market in historical artefacts.

(Country: Italy, France, Switzerland; Year: 2023; Director: Alice Rohrwacher; Writer: Carmela Covino, Marco Pettenello, Alice Rohrwacher; Stars: Isabella Rossellini, Josh O'Connor, Alba Rohrwacher, Lecu Chikovani, Carol Duate)

Full review See: Alice Rohrwacher on fairy tales and La Chimera

Club Zero

Review preview for Club Zero

The narrative proceeds at a controlled pace set to a jangling score of percussion and chants, which is enough to set viewers on edge without the disturbing scenes of food being tentatively eaten and then disgorged.

Richard Mowe · 3 out of 5
A teacher takes a job at an elite school and forms a strong bond with five students - a relationship which eventually takes a dangerous turn.

(Country: Austria, UK, Germany, France, Denmark; Year: 2023; Director: Jessica Hausner; Writer: Jessica Hausner, Géraldine Bajard; Stars: Mia Wasikowska, Sidse Babett Knudsen, Sam Hoare, Camilla Ritherford, Amanda Lawrence, Elsa Zylberstein)

Full review See: Jessica Hausner in conversation on costume designer Tanja Hausner, cinematographer Martin Gschlacht, Sidse Babette Knudsen, and Peter & the Wolf in Club Zero , Jessica Hausner in conversation on Club Zero, Elsa Zylberstein and Mathieu Demy as parents, and the Pied Piper of Hamelin

Fallen Leaves (Kuolleet Lehdet)

Review preview for Fallen Leaves

An amuse-bouche of a film, Aki Kaurismäki’s latest comedy romance may leave you wanting more but it’s also a fully rounded, good looking experience packed with all the flavours we’ve come to expect from the master of deadpan down the years.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
The course of potential love does not run smooth for a shelf-stacker and a metal worker.

(Country: Finland; Year: 2023; Director: Aki Kaurismäki; Writer: Aki Kaurismäki; Stars: Alma Pöysti, Jussi Vatanen)

Full review

Firebrand

Review preview for Firebrand

Handsomely mounted and costumed with enough sparks and pace to quicken the interest and heighten the senses.

Richard Mowe · 4 out of 5
A dramatisation of the marriage between King Henry VIII of England and Catherine Parr.

(Year: 2023; Director: Karim Aïnouz; Writer: Henrietta Ashworth, Jessica Ashworth, based on the novel The Queen’s Gambit by Elizabeth Fremantle; Stars: Alicia Vikander, Eddie Marsan, Jude Law, Sam Riley, Ruby Bentall, Erin Doherty)

Full review

Four Daughters (Les Filles D'Olfa)

Review preview for Four Daughters

The exposure of the film’s underlying structures...invites audiences to think about the processes of storytelling and interpretation, which is important, because it’s a story which took the missing women away.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A creative documentary following ten years in the life of a fortysomething Tunisian mother, a cleaning lady from a poor environment, who sees her two teenage daughters become radicalised, run away and join the terrorist organisation Daesh in Libya.

(Country: Tunisia, France; Year: 2021; Director: Kaouther Ben Hania; Stars: Olfa Hamrouni, Eya Chikhaoui, Tayssir Chikhaoui, Nour Karoui, Ichrak Matar, Majd Mastoura, Hind Sabri)

Full review See: Kaouther Ben Hania in conversation on Tunisia’s Oscar shortlisted Four Daughters (Les Filles d'Olfa), three natural-born storytellers, loving clichés and colours , Kaouther Ben Hania in conversation on Tunisia’s Oscar submission Four Daughters (Les Filles d'Olfa)

Il Sol Dell'avvenire

A period film set in Rome between the Fifties and Seventies which involves the circus and the world of cinema.

(Country: Italy; Year: 2023; Director: Nanni Moretti; Writer: Francesca Marciano, Nanni Moretti, Federica Pontremoli; Stars: Mathieu Amalric, Nanni Moretti, Margherita Buy, Silvio Orlando, Barbora Bobulova, Jerzy Stuhr)

Jeunesse

A documentary about the people of the mountainous region of Yunnan, who owe their meagre income to agriculture. Every year, in an effort to improve their conditions, young boys and girls leave their villages and settle down in the industrial suburb of Shanghai. Once a year, on Chinese New Year, they travel 2500 km together across the country, back up the Yangtze River, to home.

(Country: France, China; Year: 2023; Director: Wang Bing)

Kidnapped (Rapito)

Review preview for Kidnapped

This cinematic exploration, a manifestation of Christian bigotry, speculates with cinematic icons and religious imagery, laying bare the power-hungry clergy.

Levan Tskhovrebadze · 4.5 out of 5
In 1858, a six-year-old Jewish boy is forcibly seized from his family by the Catholic church.

(Country: Italy, France, Germany; Year: 2023; Director: Marco Bellocchio; Writer: Marco Bellocchio, Susanna Nicchiarelli, Edoardo Albinati; Stars: Enea Sala, Leonardo Maltese, Paolo Pierobon, Fausto Russo Alesi, Barbara Ronchi, Filippo Timi)

Full review

Last Summer (L'été Dernier)

A brilliant lawyer embarks on a passionate relationship with her stepson, putting her career and family life in danger.

(Country: France; Year: 2023; Director: Catherine Breillat; Writer: Catherine Breillat, Maren Louise Käehne, May el-Toukhy; Stars: Léa Drucker, Olivier Rabourdin, Clotilde Courau, Samuel Kircher)

May December

Review preview for May December

The balance held between creepiness and fascination, sheer fun and lingering disturbance is held throughout.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 5 out of 5
20 years after their notorious tabloid romance gripped the nation, a married couple buckles under the pressure when an actress arrives to do research for a film about their past.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Todd Haynes; Writer: Samy Burch, Alex Mechanik; Stars: Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore, Cory Michael Smith, Charles Melton, Piper Curda, Drew Scheid, Kelvin Han Lee)

Full review See: Todd Haynes at the 61st New York Film Festival press conference for May December

Monster (Kaibutsu)

Review preview for Monster

A beautifully constructed piece of work in which every detail serves the whole, putting the tools of the epic at the disposal of a story which is intimate and delicately realised.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A mother is shocked when she learns what a teacher has said to her son, but the truth is more complicated.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2023; Director: Hirokazu Kore-eda; Writer: Yûji Sakamoto; Stars: Sakura Ando, Eita Nagayama, Soya Kurokawa, Hinata Hiragi)

Full review

The Old Oak

Review preview for The Old Oak

Will anyone see this who wouldn't anyway?

Andrew Robertson · 3 out of 5
A musing on the future of The Old Oak, the last remaining pub in a village in Northeast England, where people are leaving the land as the mines are closed. Houses are cheap and available, thus making it an ideal location for Syrian refugees.

(Country: France; Year: 2023; Director: Ken Loach; Writer: Paul Laverty; Stars: Debbie Honeywood, Andy Dawson, Reuben Bainbridge, Col Tait, Rob Kirtley)

Full review

Perfect Days

Review preview for Perfect Days

The 4:3 format, preferred by Yasujirō Ozu, is the perfect frame for paying attention to the small mysteries that are often overlooked.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 4.5 out of 5
The story of an urban renewal project which involves the creation of 17 public toilets in key locations in the Japanese capital.

(Country: Japan, Germany; Year: 2023; Director: Wim Wenders; Writer: Takuma Takasaki, Wim Wenders; Stars: Kôji Yakusho, Tokio Emoto, Arisa Nakano, Aoi Yamada, Yumi Asô)

Full review See: Wim Wenders in conversation on his Oscar-nominated Perfect Days, Yasujirō Ozu, Anselm Kiefer and Ingeborg Bachmann , Wim Wenders in conversation on Perfect Days, Anselm Kiefer, Paul Celan and fairy tales

The Taste Of Things (La Passion De Dodin Bouffant, The Pot-au-Feu)

Review preview for The Taste Of Things

While the end result is important, Hùng’s film is all about savouring the moment, something that becomes more urgent as it progresses - although talk of speed has little place in a film that unfolds with the pace and beauty of a flower.

Amber Wilkinson · 5 out of 5
The story of Eugenie, an esteemed cook, and Dodin, the fine gourmet she has been working for over the last 20 years.

(Country: France; Year: 2023; Director: Trân Anh Hùng; Writer: Trần Anh Hùng; Stars: Juliette Binoche, Benoît Magimel, Pierre Gagnaire)

Full review See: Director of The Taste of Things on Binoche, Magimel and the row around the Oscars , Juliette Binoche on being reunited with Benoît Magimel onscreen

The Zone Of Interest

Review preview for The Zone Of Interest

There are no shortcuts in this film, no conventions and nothing careless.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 5 out of 5
The daily lives of the Höss family outside the walls of Auschwitz.

(Country: UK, Poland, US; Year: 2023; Director: Jonathan Glazer; Writer: Jonathan Glazer, based on the book by Martin Amis; Stars: Sandra Hüller, Christian Friedel, Ralph Herforth, Max Beck, Stephanie Petrowitz, Marie Rose Tietjen)

Full review