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Cannes Film Festival 2023 selection: what we're excited to see

By Euan Franklin on 15/5/2023

Martin Scorsese, Wes Anderson and Phoebe Waller-Bridge bless the Cannes Film Festival this year. Here's a list of our favourites from the selection

Killers of the Flower Moon, dir. Martin Scorsese (Out of Competition)

Martin Scorsese is no stranger to the Croisette, winning the Palme d'Or for Taxi Driver in 1976 as well as the Prix de la mise en scène for After Hours in 1986. But despite the hopes, the lauded film director and historian is not submitting his latest project Killers of the Flower Moon to the official competition.

Reported to be Scorsese's longest feature at about four hours, the epic Western is based on the non-fiction book by David Grann – investigating a series of murders in Osage County, Oklahoma, in the 1920s with local oil as the motivation. Killers of the Flower Moon also reunites Scorsese with his classic leading man Robert De Niro (Taxi Driver, Goodfellas, The Irishman) as well as his more recent star Leonardo DiCaprio (The Aviator, The Wolf of Wall Street).

Photo: Apple

WHEN

UK cinema release date: Friday 20 October

WHERE

In cinemas / on Apple TV+

Jeanne du Barry, dir. Maïwenn (Out of Competition)

Opening this year’s festival is a historical drama that could stir some controversy. Jeanne du Barry is one of six films at Cannes directed by a woman (incredibly, that’s an all-time high) and follows the tempestuous relationship between King Louis XV and his lover Jeanne Bécu, the latter a working-class courtesan desperate to climb the social ladder.

Sounds interesting… but Johnny Depp playing the 18th-century French monarch has raised a few eyebrows, the film marking the actor’s comeback after the well-publicised trial between him and his ex-wife Amber Heard. The director Maïwenn also stars as Jeanne.

Photo: Stephanie Branchu / Why Not Productions

WHEN

UK cinema release date: TBC

Monster, dir. Hirokazu Kore-eda (In Competition)

It’s already been a busy year for the Palme d’Or-winning director Hirokazu Kore-eda. His surrogate family drama Broker was released in February, proving to be one of the best films of 2023. And he slipped into television, almost under the radar, with his culinary coming-of-age Netflix drama The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House.

Now, he’s back at Cannes with a seemingly darker entry for the main competition. Little has been revealed about the plot, but reportedly, Monster follows an incident between a student and a teacher with differing perspectives – adopting a fractured, Rashomon-like narrative.

Photo: Picturehouse Entertainment. Hirokazu Kore-eda on the set of Broker.

WHEN

UK cinema release date: TBC

Occupied City, dir. Steve McQueen (In Competition)

Steve McQueen’s projects always encapsulate the politically and psychologically intense. He kicked off his career with his Bobby Sands debut Hunger (for which he won the Camera d’Or in 2008) before making devastating portraits of sex addiction (Shame), American slavery (12 Years A Slave), and British racism (Small Axe). He's even exhibiting an evocative film about Grenfell, now showing at the Serpentine Gallery.

So, considering his back catalogue, his new documentary Occupied City will be no less thought-provoking. Written by his wife Bianca Stigter (Three Minutes: A Lengthening), the film examines the city of Amsterdam during the Nazi occupation between 1940 and 1945.

Photo: Sky/Getty

WHEN

UK cinema release date: TBC

The Old Oak, dir. Ken Loach (In Competition)

Whenever filmmakers announce their retirement, don’t take them too seriously. Octogenarian director Ken Loach made such a claim after his last film Sorry We Missed You premiered at Cannes in 2019, but four years later he’s back with another politically resonant northern-based drama. And the first-look photo (see above) is the most Loachian image of all time: a man fixing the letters of a dilapidated pub, The Old Oak, after which the film is named.

Set in a former mining village in County Durham, the story sees the local community struggling after its old values, tested by the arrival of Syrian refugees into the area, crumble in favour of anger and resentment.

Photo: StudioCanal

WHEN

UK cinema release date: TBC

La chimera, dir. Alice Rohrwacher (In Competition)

Italian sisters Alice and Alba Rohrwacher have collaborated in a number of projects together, with the former directing and the latter starring. Alice even directed two episodes of My Brilliant Friend, for which Alba provided the voiceover narration.

The siblings unite again for Alice’s latest film La chimera, about an English archaeologist in 1980s Italy who becomes embroiled in a network of nocturnal tomb raiders. The endlessly watchable period drama actor Josh O’Connor (The Crown, Les Misérables, Emma) stars as the central digger Arthur, alongside Isabella Rossellini (Blue Velvet) as a retired opera singer and Alba Rohrwacher as an international artefacts trafficker.

Photo: Sky / Only You Productions. Josh O'Connor in Only You (2019).

WHEN

UK cinema release date: TBC

The Zone of Interest, dir. Jonathan Glazer (In Competition)

In a critics’ poll of the greatest British films made in the 21st century, the 2013 sci-fi drama Under the Skin (starring Scarlett Johansson) ranked first. Its director Jonathan Glazer hadn’t directed a feature film since… until now. Premiering at Cannes, The Zone of Interest – based on Martin Amis’ 2014 holocaust novel – is set to cast a thick, historical shadow over the Croisette.

Taking place in the Auschwitz concentration camp, the film follows Nazi officer Angelus Thomsen and his emerging love for the commandant’s wife Hannah Doll – both of whom grow disenchanted by the regime. Considering the suggested sympathy and humanisation of Nazis, The Zone of Interest could prove another controversial Cannes contender.

Photo: Sky / Directors cut Productions. Martin Amis in South Bank Show Originals.

WHEN

UK cinema release date: TBC

Asteroid City, dir. Wes Anderson (In Competition)

The king of colourful kookiness and symmetrical cinematography returns for another assault on the senses. Wes Anderson’s latest project travels back to the 50s for a Space Cadet/Junior Stargazer competition in a fictional American desert town. This scholarly occasion is meant to bring all kinds of students and parents together, but world-shifting events (the Space Race, perhaps?) throw the comp into chaos.

Asteroid City is populated with Anderson alumni like Jason Schwartzman, Adrien Brody, Scarlett Johansson, Jeff Goldblum and Edward Norton – as well as famous newbies like Tom Hanks and Margot Robbie.

Photo: Pop. 87 Productions/Focus Features

WHEN

UK cinema release date: Friday 23 June

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, dir. James Mangold (Out of Competition)

After the derided disaster of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull – the fourth Indy movie, which fans don’t like talking about – nobody wanted a sequel. If Steven Spielberg couldn’t reboot an 80s franchise, then who could? Well, the stupidly titled Dial of Destiny has something up its mud-stained sleeve: Phoebe Waller-Bridge.

The writer/actor has come a long way since her lauded BBC Three comedy Fleabag: ascending with Killing Eve before co-writing Daniel Craig’s last Bond movie No Time to Die. Now, she’s performing on screen for Hollywood as Indiana Jones’s sidekick and goddaughter Helena. And considering this is Ford’s final outing as the whip-cracking archaeologist, it’s possible Waller-Bridge will spawn her own spin-off franchise. This 1969-set adventure also stars Mads Mikkelsen, Toby Jones and Antonio Banderas.

Photo: Disney

WHEN

UK cinema release date: Friday 30 June

The Idol, dir. Sam Levinson (Out of Competition)

Another potentially controversial entry, considering a recent, inflammatory piece by Rolling Stone. Writer/director Sam Levinson first rocked television with his contentious, hyper-stylised teen drama Euphoria, starring Zendaya and Sydney Sweeney. However, the second season attracted scrutiny for Levinson’s treatment of the female cast members.

His latest HBO series The Idol – starring Lily-Rose Depp as a pop star – has received even more damning reports: allegedly exposing a chaotic production process. This includes the replacement of director Amy Seimetz with Levinson, strangely shifting from the initial female-driven angle. Levinson’s hedonistic lens is always dazzlingly entertaining, but will the changed story and tone supersede the tensions behind the scenes?

Photo: Sky

WHEN

Sky Atlantic air date: TBC

Cannes Film Festival 2023 selection: what we're excited to see

Martin Scorsese, Wes Anderson and Phoebe Waller-Bridge bless the Cannes Film Festival this year. Here's a list of our favourites from the selection

Killers of the Flower Moon, dir. Martin Scorsese (Out of Competition)

Jeanne du Barry, dir. Maïwenn (Out of Competition)

Monster, dir. Hirokazu Kore-eda (In Competition)

Occupied City, dir. Steve McQueen (In Competition)

The Old Oak, dir. Ken Loach (In Competition)

La chimera, dir. Alice Rohrwacher (In Competition)

The Zone of Interest, dir. Jonathan Glazer (In Competition)

Asteroid City, dir. Wes Anderson (In Competition)

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, dir. James Mangold (Out of Competition)

The Idol, dir. Sam Levinson (Out of Competition)

Cannes

Cannes Film Festival

Martin Scorsese

Leonardo DiCaprio

Robert De Niro

Hirokazu Kore-eda

Steve McQueen

Ken Loach

Alice Rohrwacher

Harrison Ford

Phoebe Waller-Bridge

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