Andrea Arnold Isn't Satisfied With ‘Bird': “Hardest Film I've Ever Made"

This afternoon, Cannes press were left with a scheduling dilemma: “Megalopolis” or “Bird.” It was impossible to watch both films as they overlapped on the schedule. I chose Coppola and will instead be watching “Bird” tomorrow morning.

Those who did catch “Bird,” and there aren’t many of them, have had subdued reactions. There’s some cautiously written positive ink, but it does sound like a very minor effort from Arnold (“American Honey,” “Fish Tank”).

Earlier in the day, Arnold accepted the 2024 Carosse d’Or award from the Director’s Fortnight sidebar. She spoke a bit about the filming of “Bird,” and it does sound like it wasn’t a walk in the park for her.

It was the hardest film I ever made. There were many challenges, more than usual, and there seemed to be more restrictions than I’d ever known. Lots of things I’ve put on the page and cared about got lost, so the edit was really hard. It was proving really hard to carve from the rushes something of the film I had intended. I was grieving the losses and I felt pretty vulnerable.

It’s unclear what these challenges were or who was imposing them, but Arnold was fighting back tears when she added her genuine hope that “Bird” does take flight with audiences:

As I mentioned, it was a painful journey. Again, I took a lot of risks. But since I first showed the short here called Milk over 20 years ago, I’ve always felt welcome and embraced here at Cannes and in France. Whatever happens, whether people like it, don’t like it, understand it, don’t understand it, I know all my efforts will be appreciated. That I am standing here now is something of a miracle. I feel so blessed with my life. It has been a really amazing life.

“Bird” currently has no U.S. distributor.

Before the Cannes lineup was announced on April 11, there had been some murmurs that “Bird” might not be ready on time. Suffice to say, a few days later, it was officially announced as being part of the competition. A few weeks later, I reported that the film was technically “not ready,” and had, at least, two weeks left of sound editing.

“Bird” stars Barry Keoghan, Franz Rogowski, Nykiya Adams and Jason Buda. The film follows a 12-year-old (Adams) who lives with her brother (Buda) and single dad (Keoghan) in a squat in North Kent. As she approaches puberty she seeks attention and adventure elsewhere. The drudgery of everyday life is thrown off kilter when she meets Bird (Rogowski).