Behind the Candelabra, a Hollywood film about Liberace a famous artist who ill-treated a young man, stars Michel Douglas and Matt Damon. Some people may say that it is a lesson in acting, but it is a stereotypical example of such films dealing with famous stars, especially the homosexual of them. There is nothing unexpected in the Soderbergh film. There was no motive to finish watching it. Nothing happened indeed. Coming to Jarmusch, it is a great start with the main characters of Adam and Eve.
We may find a new version of first humans as vampires, but going through the scenes, it still was only bizarre without any depth. I did not like his view of oriental Morocco, with some magical atmosphere. Jarmusch presented people in a shallow way with no connection to his main characters Adam and Eve. It is a film of only form without content.
My deep shock was the film of Roman Polanski Venus in Fur which we were keen to watch just before the discussion about the FIPRESCI prizes. After ten minutes I became very sure that he would stay with his two characters in this single location — the theatre — but it is a work of some naivete or like a beginner who wants to show how clever he is.
Cannes is a democratic system, always discovering new talent and presenting them to the whole world. This year May 2013 Cannes gave the crown to Abdellatif Kechiche to be the great God of the Olympia of cinema.
In 1989 with Sex, Lies, and Videotape Soderbergh earned the Cannes Film Festival’s Palme d’Or award, and many other awards. In 2002 The Pianist from Polanski won the Palme d’Or as well as later César awards for Best Film and Best Director. The miracle kid indeed was Jarmusch who in 1993 won the Palme d’Or for Best Short Film and in 2005 the Grand Prize of the jury for his film Broken Flowers. So we do not know until when the new God of cinema Kechichecan keep his crown.
Edited by Carmen Gray
© FIPRESCI 2013