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Cannes Film Festival · 2025

Cannes Film Festival 2025

Competition

Programme

22 films · 15 reviews

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Alpha

Review preview for Alpha

Alpha exists in the intersection of the probable and the parable.

Andrew Robertson · 4.5 out of 5
Alpha, a troubled 13-year-old, lives with her single mother. Their world collapses the day she returns from school with a tattoo on her arm.

(Country: France, Belgium; Year: 2025; Director: Julia Ducournau; Writer: Julia Ducournau; Stars: Emma Mackey, Golshifteh Farahani, Tahar Rahim, Finnegan Oldfield, Jean-Charles Clichet, Christophe Perez, Ambrine Trigo Ouaked, Louai El Amrousy, Mélissa Boros, Fabien Giameluca)

Full review

World premiere

Case 137 (Dossier 137)

Review preview for Case 137

It’s Drucker’s mesmerising performance that papers over the cracks.

Richard Mowe · 4 out of 5
Stéphanie, a police officer working for Internal Affairs, is assigned to a case involving a young man severely wounded during a tense and chaotic demonstration in Paris. While she finds no evidence of illegitimate police violence, the case takes a personal turn when she discovers the victim is from her hometown.

(Country: France; Year: 2025; Director: Dominik Moll; Writer: Gilles Marchand, Dominik Moll; Stars: Léa Drucker, Yoann Blanc, Antonia Buresi, Etienne Guillou-Kervern, Guslagie Malanda, Kevin Debonne, Laurent Bozzi, Dorothée Martinet)

Full review See: Léa Drucker on awards, resonating stories and pushing boundaries

World premiere

Die, My Love

Review preview for Die, My Love

Ramsay's style takes no prisoners.

Richard Mowe · 3 out of 5
A woman battles her demons.

(Country: UK, US; Year: 2025; Director: Lynne Ramsay; Writer: Ariana Harwicz, Lynne Ramsay, Enda Walsh; Stars: Jennifer Lawrence, Robert Pattinson, Nick Nolte, Sissy Spacek, LaKeith Stanfield, Sarah Lind, Gabrielle Rose, Victor Zinck Jr., Phillip Forest Lewitski, Debs Howard, Luke Camilleri, Marcus Della Rosa, Tom Carey, Saylor McPherson, Lori Bachynski)

Full review See: Lynne Ramsay, Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson on Die, My Love in Cannes

World premiere

Eagles Of The Republic

(Country: France, Sweden, Denmark; Year: 2025; Director: Tarik Saleh; Writer: Tarik Saleh; Stars: Fares Fares, Cherien Dabis, Lyna Khoudri, Zineb Triki, Sherwan Haji, Hassan El Sayed, Pedram Hajigholi, Suhaib Nashwan, Mohammed Nehmi, Haitham Elsaadani)

World premiere

Eddington

Review preview for Eddington

The truly admirable aspect of Eddington is the way Aster constantly pulls the rug from under expectations.

Richard Mowe · 3 out of 5
A stand-off between a small-town sheriff and mayor sparks a powder keg as neighbour is pitted against neighbour in Eddington, New Mexico.

(Country: US, Finland; Year: 2025; Director: Ari Aster; Writer: Ari Aster; Stars: Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal, Emma Stone, Luke Grimes, Austin Butler, Clifton Collins Jr., Deirdre O'Connell, Micheal Ward, Amélie Hoeferle, Matt Gomez Hidaka, Cameron Mann, Auburn Ashley, Dan Davidson, William Belleau, King Orba)

Full review

World premiere

Fuori

Rome, 1980. After the magnum opus The Art of Joy she has been working on for a decade is rejected by the Italian publishing world, writer Goliarda Sapienza ends up in prison for stealing jewelry, but the encounter with some young inmates turns out to be a life-changing experience.

(Country: Italy, France; Director: Mario Martone; Writer: Ippolita Di Majo, Mario Martone; Stars: Valeria Golino, Matilda De Angelis, Elodie, Sylvia De Fanti, Stefano Dionisi, Francesco Gheghi, Antonio Gerardi, Corrado Fortuna)

World premiere

The History Of Sound

Review preview for The History Of Sound

Most of the filmmaker’s passion, wisdom and wits is packed in the first half, while the second half represents pure “production” of content.

Marko Stojiljkovic · 2.5 out of 5
Two young men in 1920 set out to record the lives, voices and music of their American countrymen.

(Country: US; Year: 2025; Director: Oliver Hermanus; Writer: Ben Shattuck; Stars: Paul Mescal, Peter Mark Kendall, Josh O'Connor, Chris Cooper, Molly Price, Raphael Sbarge, Hadley Robinson, Emma Canning, Briana Middleton, Alessandro Bedetti, Will Fitz, Gary Raymond, Alison Bartlett, Michael D. Xavier, Dan Bittner)

Full review

World premiere

It Was Just an Accident (Un Simple Accident)

Review preview for It Was Just an Accident

The takes are usually long and static, but every cut and move is justified for the purpose of dramaturgy.

Marko Stojiljkovic · 4 out of 5
What begins as a minor accident sets in motion a series of escalating consequences.

(Country: Iran, France, Luxembourg; Year: 2025; Director: Jafar Panahi; Writer: Jafar Panahi; Stars: Madjid Panahi, Ebrahim Azizi, Vahid Mobasseri, Mariam Afshari)

Full review See: Jafar Panahi on inspiration for It Was Just An Accident

World premiere

The Little Sister (La Petite Dernière)

Fatima, 17, the youngest of three daughters, treads carefully as she searches for her own path, grappling with emerging desires, her attraction to women, and her loyalty to her caring French-Algerian family.

(Country: France, Germany; Year: 2025; Director: Hafsia Herzi; Writer: Fatima Daas, Hafsia Herzi; Stars: Park Ji-min, Aloïse Sauvage, Némo Schiffman, Vincent Pasdermadjian, Sophie Garagnon, Olivia Courbis, Rita Benmannana, Victorien Bonnet, Elisa Libri, Luna Ribeiro, Anouar Kardellas, Nacer Bouhanni)

World premiere

The Mastermind

Review preview for The Mastermind

Reichardt’s attention to detail is visible in every aspect, and the perfect casting is no exception.

Marko Stojiljkovic · 4.5 out of 5
In a quiet corner of Massachusetts circa 1970, JB Mooney, an unemployed carpenter turned amateur art thief, plots his first major heist. But when things go south, his life is turned upside down.

(Country: US; Year: 2025; Director: Kelly Reichardt; Writer: Kelly Reichardt; Stars: Josh O'Connor, Gaby Hoffmann, John Magaro, Alana Haim, Bill Camp, Hope Davis, Rhenzy Feliz, Matthew Maher, Cole Doman, Margot Anderson-Song, Eli Gelb, Juan Carlos Hernández, Jean Zarzour, Ryan Homchick, Wilson Conkwright)

Full review

World premiere

Nouvelle Vague (New Wave)

Review preview for Nouvelle Vague

Guillaume Marbeck as Godard is pitch perfect, trademark dark glasses and tobacco smoke his indispensable props with even the voice uncannily resonant of the man himself.

Richard Mowe · 4 out of 5
This is the story of Godard making Breathless, told in the style and spirit in which Godard made Breathless.

(Country: France; Year: 2025; Director: Richard Linklater; Writer: Holly Gent, Laetitia Masson, Vincent Palmo Jr, Michèle Pétin; Stars: Zoey Deutch, Alix Bénézech, Paolo Luka Noé, Nicolas Dozol, Guillaume Marbeck, Tom Novembre, Jade Phan-Gia, Aubry Dullin, Côme Thieulin, Blaise Pettebone, Adrien Rouyard, Matthieu Penchinat, Jodie Ruth-Forest, Roxane Rivière, Jean-Jacques Le Vessier)

Full review See: Richard Linklater on chronicling the creation of Godard's Breathless

World premiere

The Phoenician Scheme

Review preview for The Phoenician Scheme

The real challenge is to keep up with the pace as well as the information overload.

Richard Mowe · 3 out of 5
The story of a family and a family business.

(Country: US, Germany; Year: 2025; Director: Wes Anderson; Writer: Wes Anderson, Roman Coppola; Stars: Benicio del Toro, Tom Hanks, Scarlett Johansson, Bryan Cranston, Benedict Cumberbatch, Benicio Del Toro, Richard Ayoade, Rupert Friend, Michael Cera, Jeffrey Wright, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Riz Ahmed, Hope Davis, Jason Watkins, Mathieu Amalric, Mia Threapleton)

Full review

World premiere

Renoir

Suburban Tokyo, 1987. Eleven-year-old Fuki’s father, Keiji, is battling a terminal illness, and in and out of hospital. Her mother, Utako, is constantly stressed out from caring for Keiji while holding down a full-time job. Left alone with her rich imagination, Fuki becomes fascinated by telepathy and falls ever deeper into her own fantasy world…

(Country: Japan, France; Year: 2025; Director: Chie Hayakawa; Writer: Chie Hayakawa; Stars: Yumi Kawai, Lily Franky, Ryôta Bandô, Charlie St. Cyr, Hikari Ishida, Ayumu Nakajima, Yui Suzuki)

World premiere

Resurrection (Kuang Ye Shi Dai)

In a world where humanity has lost the ability to dream, one creature remains entranced by the fading illusions of the dreamworld. This monster, adrift in reverie, clings to visions no one else can see - until a woman appears. Gifted with the rare power to perceive these illusions for what they truly are, she chooses to enter the monster’s dreams, determined to uncover the truth that lies hidden within.

(Country: China, France; Year: 2025; Director: Bi Gan; Writer: Bi Gan; Stars: Shu Qi, Jackson Yee, Mark Chao, Chloe Maayan, Jue Huang, Gengxi Li, Zhijian Zhang, Yongzhong Chen, Mucheng Guo)

World premiere

Romería

Review preview for Romería

Combining slick digital look with the look of various antique formats, from DV to super-8, Simón creates her very own smooth blend.

Marko Stojiljkovic · 4 out of 5
Marina, 18, orphaned at a young age, must travel to Spain’s Atlantic coast to obtain a signature for a scholarship application from the paternal grandparents she has never met.

(Country: Spain, Germany; Year: 2025; Director: Carla Simón; Writer: Carla Simón; Stars: Tristán Ulloa, José Ángel Egido, Sara Casasnovas, Miryam Gallego, Janet Novás, Mitch Martín, Celine Tyll, Mitch Robles, Llúcia Garcia, Sergio Quintana, David Saraiva)

Full review

World premiere

The Secret Agent (O Agente Secreto)

Review preview for The Secret Agent

Marcelo is at home in the fine tradition of flicks where the fact that they are an agent is mainly a secret to them.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 4.5 out of 5
Brazil, 1977. Marcelo, a technology expert in his early 40s, is on the run. He arrives in Recife during carnival week, hoping to reunite with his son but soon realises that the city is far from being the non-violent refuge he seeks.

(Country: Brazil, France, Netherlands, Germany; Year: 2025; Director: Kleber Mendonça Filho; Writer: Kleber Mendonça Filho; Stars: Wagner Moura, Udo Kier, Gabriel Leone, Maria Fernanda Cândido, Hermila Guedes, Alice Carvalho, Thomás Aquino, Isabél Zuaa, Suzy Lopes, João Vitor Silva, Roney Villela, Rubens Santos, Luciano Chirolli, Buda Lira, Jimmy Astley)

Full review

World premiere

Sentimental Value (Affeksjonsverdi)

Review preview for Sentimental Value

What marks Trier out is his ability to take on intellectual ideas like this but make them play out in ways that don’t feel forced or overly constructed.

Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
In the wake of their mother's death, two sisters grapple with their relationship with their filmmaker father as he tries to involve one of them in his latest project.

(Country: Norway, Germany, Denmark, France, Sweden; Year: 2025; Director: Joachim Trier; Writer: Joachim Trier, Eskil Vogt; Stars: Elle Fanning, Stellan Skarsgård, Renate Reinsve, Cory Michael Smith, Jesper Christensen, Catherine Cohen, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, Bjørn Alexander, Jonas Jacobsen, Pia Borgli)

Full review

World premiere

Sirât (Sirat)

Review preview for Sirât

The film looks amazing, but it sounds even more incredible.

Richard Mowe · 4 out of 5
A father arrives at a rave deep in the mountains of southern Morocco with his son, looking for his daughter who has been missing for months.

(Country: Spain, France; Year: 2025; Director: Óliver Laxe; Writer: Santiago Fillol, Óliver Laxe; Stars: Sergi López, Bruno Núñez)

Full review See: Interview with Kangding Ray about Sirât

World premiere

Sound Of Falling (In Die Sonne Schauen)

Review preview for Sound Of Falling

The lives mirror each other, build on each other, contradict each other, haunt each other.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 5 out of 5
Four girls, Alma, Erika, Angelika, and Lenka, each spend their youth on the same farm in northern Germany. As the home evolves over a century, echoes of the past linger in its walls. Though separated by time, their lives begin to mirror each other.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2025; Director: Mascha Schilinski; Writer: Louise Peter, Mascha Schilinski; Stars: Luise Heyer, Filip Schnack, Lea Drinda, Susanne Wuest, Lena Urzendowsky, Luzia Oppermann, Lucas Prisor, Konstantin Lindhorst, Gode Benedix, Martin Rother, Hanna Heckt, Bärbel Schwarz, Florian Geißelmann)

Full review

World premiere

Two Prosecutors

Review preview for Two Prosecutors

Chillingly restrained and quietly devastating

Stephen Dalton · 4 out of 5
Soviet Union, 1937. Thousands of letters from detainees falsely accused by the regime are burned in a prison cell. Against all odds, one of them reaches its destination... the desk of a newly appointed local prosecutor, who embarks on a quest for justice.

(Country: France, Germany, Romania, Latvia, Netherlands, Lithuania; Year: 2025; Director: Sergey Loznitsa; Writer: Sergey Loznitsa; Stars: Aleksandr Kuznetsov, Aleksandr Filippenko, Anatoliy Beliy, Andris Keišs)

Full review

World premiere

Woman And Child (Zan O Bacheh)

Mahnaz, a 40-year-old widowed nurse, struggles with her rebellious son, Aliyar, who has been suspended from school. Family tensions reach a peak during the betrothal ceremony with her new boyfriend Hamid, and a tragic accident occurs.

(Country: Iran; Year: 2025; Director: Saeed Roustayi; Writer: Saeed Roustayi, Azad Jafarian; Stars: Parinaz Izadyar, Payman Maadi, Soha Niasti, Hassan Pourshirazi, Fereshteh Sadre Orafaiy, Maziar Seyedi, Sahar Goldoost, Arshida Dorostkar, Javad Pourheidari, Mansour Nasiri)

World premiere

Young Mothers (Jeunes Meres, The Young Mother's Home)

Jessica, Perla, Julie, Ariane and Naïma are housed in a shelter for young mothers. Five teenagers hoping for a better life for themselves and their babies.

(Country: Belgium, France; Year: 2025; Director: Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne; Writer: Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne; Stars: Elsa Houben, Lucie Laruelle, Janaina Halloy, Babette Verbeek, Samia Hilmi)

World premiere