Postcard from Cannes #4: the curveball of cinema
The Cannes Film Festival is a place where audacity is rewarded and experimentation is encouraged. But ordinary people and their struggles also find their place on the screen, in-between the magic and the glamour. One thing is certain, Cannes is like a curveball – you never know what you’re going to get or quite how you’re going to react.
The official selection is definitely full of surprises this year, with first-time directors rubbing shoulders with a host of experienced veterans.
In the running for the coveted Palme d'Or is the latest offering by French director Jacques Audiard – who wowed Cannes audiences in 2015 with Dheepan, that won the top prize.
With Emilia Perez, he has taken the idea of "experimental" into a new dimension.
The pitch goes something like this: mix a Mexican cartel boss wanting a sex change, a lonely lawyer ready to help him with a cast of singing and dancing characters, and you have an explosive cocktail.
This is in part thanks to the trio of women leading the film, each with their own very strong character. Zoe Saldana is the lawyer yearning to be more appreciated in her job and find love, Selena Gomez is the cartel boss’ wife while Karla Sofia Gascon shines as both the cartel boss Manitas and Emilia Perez.
On paper it sounds completely crazy, but somehow it works.
Read more on RFI English
Read also:
Postcard from Cannes #3: Breaking the silence
Postcard from Cannes #2: the rising potential of immersive cinema
Postcard from Cannes #1: Fiction is reality and reality is fiction
