A day and date release via VOD/Theatrical is planned for Claire Denis’ “The Stars at Noon” this Friday., The film currently has a 64 on Metacritic. Despite the tepid reception, “The Stars at Noon” surprisingly won the Grand Prix at Cannes (basically, third place).
The film has no awards prospects lined up for it, especially after the cool reception it garnered at Cannes. Know what? It’s not the total trainwreck many would have you believe. The first half is quite solid, but it completely falls apart in the choppy second hour.
Denis waited close to 34 years to get back into Cannes competition and it was for this film. I’ve seen every Denis since 1988’s “Chocolat,” and her Cannes comp entry is not worthy of her talents. Albeit, the French filmmaker is very esoteric, niche if you will, she has her hardcore fanbase and they will like anything she puts out.
Adapting Denis Johnson’s novel of the same name, “The Stars at Noon” has Margaret Qualley naked during most of the movie. Qualley stars as a failed journalist stranded in present-day Nicaragua falling for a mysterious Englishman (Joe Alwyn) who is up to his knees in problems with not just local authorities, but also the CIA. This puts her life in grave danger.
It does start off well, with Denis introducing Qualley’s rogue journalist, a woman unafraid of the dangerous setting she seems to be in. Qualley’s Trish skips around her small Nicaraguan town, smartphone at hand despite the fact that the war depicted on-screen occurred in the ‘80s. Alwyn’s Daniel is in the petroleum business, doing dirty business dealings with the wrong people. After she sleeps with him, Trish realizes that the people he’s doing contracts with might be moles, America-controlled puppets.
Denis’ film is a mood piece, of sorts, with a jazzy score heard throughout. There is no texture in its second half, it’s listless, feeling rushed and messy. As tensions are supposed to rise, our lead characters hop from one situation to the next with not much context put behind their actions. Its 135 minute runtime feels bloated instead of freewheeling.
They both escape, lovers on the lam and that’s when the film turns bad. There is no clear destination. Guy Lecorne’s messy editing doesn’t help in making things any clearer. You can feel this film was rushed. Denis screenplay is also filled with terrible dialogue, almost wooden in places.
The film relies heavily on Qualley and Alwyn’s romance, but they have n0 chemistry together, truly none at all. Alwyn’s wooden performance is to be blamed for that. You can’t be gripped by a film when you don’t believe the two lovebirds at its core actually care for each other — to the point where it becomes unintentionally hilarious to watch them pretend to love each other.
Denis has nothing to prove, she’s made great films throughout her career (“Beau Travail,” “35 Shots of Rum”). This latest one builds excellent atmosphere and is only hampered by the tonal inconsistencies in its second hour. It’s sure as hell better than Denis’ other 2022 film, the soapy “Both Sides of the Blade.” [C]
This is the adaptation of the nonfiction book by Dan Schilling and Lori Longfritz. It wrapped production in February and has been in post-production ever since. The film test-screened a few months ago.