The last hours of the Festival are always a bit melancholy…
The theaters are half-empty, the Film Market stands are dismantled, and the cinephilic excitement is in free fall.
Until this little makeshift stall in the last row of the Grand Amphitheater Lumière that we have practically privatized session after session, and which we use one last time with a pang of heart this final cut Saturday. It’s the time for the last (three) films and the first predictions.
The Last Face, Sean Penn, USA
The Last FaceBetween the civil war in Liberia and that in South Sudan, passing through Sierra Leone, Dr. Petersen (Charlize Theron) and Dr. Miguel Leon (Javier Bardem), who do not share the same view on humanitarian work, live a love story full of twists.
Two films coexist in The Last Face: a sort of documentary on the horrors of wars in Africa and a Hollywood love film in the style of The Year of Living Dangerously. The first is effective, thus salutary to awaken our ever-low tension consciousness when it comes to Africa. The second is contrived and artificial. Even indecent.
Elle, Paul Verhoeven, Netherlands – France
ElleMichèle (Isabelle Huppert) runs a large company that creates ultra-violent video games. One evening, she is raped in her villa. More troubled than shocked, she sets out to find her attacker.
The director of Robocop and Basic Instinct offers Isabelle Huppert a role that suits her. An unflappable, cold-blooded character, not at all family-friendly, a high-risk lover, and a friend of doubtful reliability, Michèle will likely quickly enter the pantheon of remarkable characters in French cinema.
Forushande (The Salesman), Asghar Farhadi, Iran
The SalesmanEmad (Shahab Hosseini) and Rana (Taraneh Alidoosti), a couple of actors living in Tehran, move into a new apartment. One evening, while she is alone, Rana inadvertently leaves the door open. A stranger enters and attacks her while she is having a shower.
Another rape! The second on this last day of the festival. But Farhadi’s purpose is much weightier than that of Verhoeven. In today’s perplexing Iran (where veiled actresses perform Arthur Miller), it is a reflection on the legitimacy of the battles we fight on behalf of others and forgiveness. It is both modest, generous, and terribly unsettling. With an open ending that is anything but conclusive.
The predictions remain, or rather THE FAVORITES:
For my part, let’s say I would be disappointed if the awards list is not enriched with the following quartet:
- Ma Loute (Bruno Dumont- France)
Toni Erdmann (Maren Ade-Germany)
Aquarius (Kleber Mendonça Filho- Brazil)
Bacalaureat (Cristian Mungiu- Romania)
However, I wouldn’t mind if, beyond his film of the year, Pedro Almodovar is rewarded in some way for his entire body of work (I’m repeating myself, I’ve said this several times on this blog in previous years!).
by Patrick Mottard
