Cannes 2021: Final Predictions

And so, we’ve come to my final predictions before the Cannes 2021 lineup is revealed this Wednesday. As expected, a lot has changed these last few days. We have a more concrete idea of how everything will shape out, although surprises are still in store between now and the 3rd. I have confidence most, if not, all of these 21 films will be part of the competition:

Annette (Leos Carax)
Benedetta (Paul Verhoeven)
The French Dispatch (Wes Anderson)
Three Floors (Nanni Moretti)
Memoria (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
Bergman Island (Mia Hansen-Love)
Flag Day (Sean Penn)
A Hero (Asghar Farhadi)
Stillwater (Tom McCarthy)
Drive My Car (Ryusuke Hamaguchi)
Baglilik Hasan (Semih Kaplanoglu)
Petrov’s Flu (Kirill Serebrennikov)
Ahed’s Knee (Nadav Lapid)
The Restless (Joachim Lafosse)
The Eternal Daughter (Joanna Hogg)
Nobody’s Hero (Alain Guiraudie)
In Front of Your Face (Hong Sang-soo)
De Son Vivant (Emmanuelle Bercot)
The Worst Person In The World (Joachim Trier)
For Better Or For Worse (Stephane Brize)

Notice, the absence of Joel Coen’s “The Tragedy of Macbeth.” Last I heard, there was a very contentious back-and-forth going on between Apple/A24 and the Cannes selection committee. The crux of the matter seems to have to do with, wait for it, whether the film will be getting a theatrical release in France before its inevitable premiere on the Apple TV streaming service. Regardless, ‘Macbeth’ could still make it to Cannes this July, but it’s all up in the air at this point in time.