Deauville 2023: We saw Jude Law as the King of Disgust and the first tears of the festival

And here we go to the 2023 Deauville American Film Festival! The 49th edition was sure to be marked by turmoil that caused a stir in Hollywood and, in particular, forced Jude Law to cancel a visit when he was due to pay tribute at the opening ceremony.

Like Natalie Portman, Peter Dinklage and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, the actress supports the strike of screenwriters and actors, which has been going on for several months in the Atlantic Ocean. But he still excelled in Le Jeu de la Reine, the brilliant opening film that went through competition at the recent Cannes Film Festival.

Check out this feature film and the first two Grand Prix contenders presented in competition this Saturday, September 2nd.

Queen’s game

Premieres – opening film – Who would have imagined that he would say that “Jude Law is disgusting” Before one of his movies? However, this is the success achieved by Karim Ainouz with Le Jeu de la Reine. And this is not its only feature. More than in Peter Pan and Wendy or the unknown Dom Hemingway, the English actor breaks his image in the Weeping King of England Henry VIII.

A sovereign whose wife it was better not to be, on pain of repudiation, or of cutting herself off, when not prevented by illness. So the odds are not in Kathryn Parry’s (Alicia Vikander) favor when she becomes his sixth wife. but…

Far be it from us to be a spoiler, but with the French title (a far cry from the original Firebrand) and the fact that the events are already told in the history books, the destination is ultimately less than the road to get there.

A road full of sound and fury, where Karim Ainuz’s naturalistic staging compensates for the classicism of the story. Sitting at the end of our seat, we feel as if we are in the 16th century and feel the filthiness of the place. Not only that which flows from the festering wounds of Henry VIII., which corrupts vice and pride.

Alicia Vikander seems more restrained than in the performance, in every sense of the word, in front of the monstrous Jude Law. wrongly. The different emotions that her character goes through make her gain strength until the final confrontation of this film, which at times flirts with horror and honors this woman who was written in the history of England. The bad news: You’ll have to wait until February 28th to discover it in theaters.

Past LIVE

competition – It will be necessary to wait a little before seeing Past Lives in the cinema. But less so, as Celine Song’s first feature film hits here on December 13. He may have been crowned with a prize won at Deauville, at the close of the contest in which he began hostilities. Successfully, because the audience’s wet cheeks at the end of the projection had nothing to do with the rain that irrigated Normandy.

Yet it is not so easy to write about a film that shines above all in its disarming simplicity. No visual or narrative evidence (although the story is divided into three stages, each separated by twelve years) in this personal story, which the director knows how to make universal.

Childhood friends and platonic lovers separated by life when Nora (Greta Lee) leaves her native Korea for the Americas, the two characters find themselves in their thirties and then their thirties. Through them, Celine Song questions herself (and us) about past lives, fate, missed opportunities, and what could have been.

Without bitterness or regret, but with a lot of sweetness. The rhythm is slow but not boring, and the shadow of the eternal sun of the barren mind hangs (a little too much?) on this film, which also recalls the mood of love. And two artists we quickly fell in love with. Just overwhelming.

ISS

competition – What would happen to the International Space Station, which is a symbol of mutual understanding between the United States and Russia after the end of the Cold War, if the two countries entered into a conflict on Earth? This is the starting point of ISS, the second film in the competition, worthy of an 80s B series, but not so hard to imagine today.

And the fourth director, Gabriela Cowperthwaite, until now specialized in documentaries and stories based on real events, as she recalled in a video presentation in the preamble of the show. It takes off here in the near future, with a wonderful cast that includes Oscar winner Ariana DeBose, Pilou Asbeck and Chris Messina.

A trip that seems to be going well until the Earth bursts into flames in front of them and the Americans receive a message asking them to take control of the station. When the director chose not to show us what they told their colleagues, the tension and paranoia began to build.

But like its over-the-top music and dialogue, or the all-too-symbolic shots of lab rats weightless in cages, ISS lacks nuance and quickly becomes Manichean, at odds with the human character studies in extreme situations desired by the filmmaker.

The 49th Deauville American Film Festival will be held from September 1 to 10.