Cannes 2023: Sean Penn joins selection, Abbe Pierre biopic and film already surrounded by controversy

New films have joined the Cannes selection. As planned on April 13, the supplementary selection was to be announced. It is here !

13 additional feature films were selected, including two in competition. It’s Catherine Corsin’s new film, Le Retour, which is already surrounded by controversy (explained later in the article) and Black Flies starring Jean-Stephane Sauvière and Sean Penn.

Among the films added, let’s mention, among others, Valérie Donzel’s new film with Virgin Efira (Love and Forests, at the Cannes premiere), a biopic dedicated to L’Abbé Pierre, with Benjamin Lavernhe (L’Abbé). Pierre – a life of strife, without competition), or even the new realization of Alex Lutz (romance Une Nuit, in which he plays with Karin Viard, in Un Certain Regard, at last).

Check out the full list of plugins by category:

competition

• Black flies By Jean Stéphane Sauver

• return By Catherine Corsin

Cannes premiere

• Perdidos In The Noche d’Amat Escalante

• Love and forests By Valerie Donzel

• Eureka Lisandro Alonso

without competition

• Abbé Pierre – The Martial Life of Frédéric Tellier

In some perspective

• Only the river flows by Wei Shujun

• Yes By Alex Lutz (The film will be screened non-competitively at the closing of Un Certain Regard)

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• Daughters of Fire by Pedro Costa

Special screenings

• Little Girl Blue by Mona Achache

• Bread and Roses by Sahra Mani

• Marguerite theorem of Anna Novion

midnight sessions

• Hypnotics by Robert Rodriguez

• Kim Tae-gon’s project Silence

Among the announced films, the return of the fragrance of controversy

It is worth noting that of all the above films, one was slightly more watchable than the others. Le Retour, Catherine Corsini’s 12th feature, was indeed temporarily excluded from competition at the last moment on the day of the selection announcement, as several press headlines indicated.

For the record, Catherine Corsini’s film was initially pulled from the Cannes shortlist to investigate allegations against the film crew. The Board of Directors of the Cannes Film Festival wanted to take the time to consider it.Job statusbefore deciding on his choice.

Le Retour follows Khedija (Aïssatou Diallo Sagna), a fifty-year-old working for a wealthy Parisian family who offers to babysit her for the summer in Corsica. He has the opportunity to return with his daughters Jessica and Farah to the island they left fifteen years ago in tragic circumstances. While Khedija struggles with her memories, the two teenagers succumb to all the temptations of summer: surprise meetings, 400 strokes, their first romantic experience. This trip will be an opportunity for them to discover a part of their history and become closer.

This reunion with the Cannes competition comes two years after his previous feature La Fracture (video above). Valeria Bruni Tedeschi and Marina Foys lend their qualities to Raf and Julie, two women who are on the verge of a breakup and find themselves in an overcrowded hospital constantly admitting injured demonstrators. Thus, the filmmaker continued, after Un aour impossible, to delve into the theme of the separation of the couple, placing it here in a political context, the violent demonstrations that have shaken France in recent years.

In Le Retour, the filmmaker finds the actor he nominated for La Fracture, Aisatu Diallo, the subject of César for Best Supporting Actor in 2022. The cast gives pride of place to young actors and actresses, including Esther Gohuru, who was spotted in Minion, and Susie. Bemba, one of the revelations of the opera series, on OCS.

This is Catherine Corsini’s 6th film to be presented at Cannes. The director was there from 1984 with the short film Ballads (in the section Perspectives of French Cinema), then the short film Youth Without God (cinemas in France, 1986). His second feature, Les Amoureux, was at Cinéma en France in 1984. Trois Mondes was in competition at Un Certain Regard in 2012. division It was his first official competition in 2021. Catherine Corsini chaired the Caméra d’Or jury in 2016.