The offerings at this year’s Cannes Film Festival have taken shape over the past week, beginning with the unveiling of the official Competition slate, then the Critics Week sidebar, and the Directors’ Fortnight parallel section earlier this week. As exciting as announcements for film festivals only a tiny percentage of us can actually attend are, this year’s still felt a bit anticlimactic. There was a certain dearth of big names at the festival. Sure, the Competition lineup has Todd Haynes’ Carol, Yorgos Lanthimos’ nutso Dogtooth follow-up, and a one-two punch from Italian stallions Matteo Garrone and Paolo Sorrentino. Even so, it felt like something was missing from the Croisette this year, something big and splashy and scandalizing.
Like a three-hour 3-D porno from enfant terrible Gaspar Noé, for instance. As if on cue, the Cannes committee rolled out another wave of entries in various sections for this year’s festival today, adding some exciting wattage to 2015’s proceedings. Noé’s last appearance at Cannes was in 2009, for his trippy and profane Enter The Void, which was met with a standing ovation by some and boos from others. With his newest effort, Love, Noé’s gunning for a, shall we say, different sort of standing ovation. In an interview with Marfa Journal, Noé teased:
“The only violence in the whole film is how people who are madly in love insult each other. [...] With my next film I hope guys will have erections and girls will get wet. [...] KG is the coolest actor I have ever met. He is daring, joyful and intelligent. He has love scenes throughout the whole movie. He is the ultimate 3-D baby maker.”
There you have it, folks: This year’s Cannes will cause more boners than ever. Unlike Enter The Void, Love will not play In Competition, restricted instead to a midnight screening. Additions to the Competition roster include Michel Franco’s ostensible Dr. Dre biopic Chronic, and The Valley Of Love from Guillaume Nicloux. The committee also revealed that this year’s Special Screening will be Robert Guediguian’s Don’t Tell Me The Boy Was Mad.
The Un Certain Regard section also took on five new entries: Alias Maria, from Jose Luis Rugeles Gracia; Brillante Mendoza’s Taklub; Yared Zeleke’s Lamb; and Naomi Kawase’s simply-titled AN. The final addition is Cemetery Of Splendor, Thai master Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s return to the festival after taking home the Palme d’Or for Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives in 2010. His omission from last week’s announcement was rather glaring, and with the reliable name of Weerasethakul now on the ticket, Cannes 2015 looks like another smash in the making.