(Cannes) Our special correspondent on the Croisette reports on the latest news from the Cannes Film Festival.
Presenting in competition Last Summer, a film that arouses as much enthusiasm as the ire of festival-goers, Catherine Breillat explained her approach at a press conference on Friday. “I am a feminist and always have been. Those who hated my films blamed me for being so and it was disgusting. I am above all a filmmaker and an entomologist. I like to scrutinize things, particularly in relation to the intimate. A love scene is for me a total stake, because it is the whole stake of our life. You cannot represent love in a mediocre way. I want to show the love scenes as they have never been shown, to go into the intimacy of a scene where, finally, one appears to oneself and one appears to the other. Starring Léa Drucker and Samuel Kircher, Last Summer chronicles an affair – and its aftermath – between a 17-year-old teenager and an older woman.
Wim Wenders clarified on Friday that the idea of a third feature film evoking angels is not in his plans. Wings of Desire won the Directing Award in 1987, and So Far, So Close!, the Grand Prix in 1993. “Anyway, my angels are gone up in the sky forever,” the filmmaker said. referring to Peter Falk and Bruno Ganz, the two stars of Wings of Desire. “Having said that, this movie [Perfect Days] does get a bit closer to the concept of angels,” he added. Hirayama [the story’s protagonist] is a bit like an angel, in that few people see him and he is invisible to most people. Perfect Days has a very spiritual aspect to me, we’re kind of in the same territory. Very well received by festival-goers, Perfect Days, a kind of existential road movie built around the life of a man in love with music and literature who cleans public toilets in Tokyo, would be acquired by the American distribution company Neon, according to what reports the specialized site Deadline.
Chaired by actor John C. Reilly, the jury of Un Certain Regard, the other official competitive section of the Cannes Film Festival, awarded the prize for best film to How to Have Sex. Briton Molly Manning Walker’s debut feature follows a gang of teenagers on their party nights. In all, 6 of the 20 feature films selected in this section won awards, but Simple comme Sylvain, Monia Chokri’s film, did not make the honor roll, although it was warmly received.
