Ok, the latest Cannes rumors finally have a potential surprise in the works. A THR spitball report says that Lars von Trier is on track to finish his 15th—likely final—film of his career, and that a Cannes premiere could now be in the cards.
Although Von Trier has been working, on and off on this film, for the last two plus years, I remain somewhat skeptical about this, but he is an artist who works in such free fashion that anything is possible.
Not much is known about “After,” beyond rumors that it might be inspired by Chris Marker’s “La Jetee,” but I truly hope von Trier, who hasn’t directed a feature since 2018, has completed what looks to be his swan song. He lives and breathes cinema. That’s all he’s been doing for the better part of 40 years.
Few would dispute the influence von Trier has had on modern cinema. His bold vision and unmistakable style continue to resonate throughout contemporary film, with works like “Breaking the Waves,” “Melancholia,” “Dancer in the Dark,” and “Dogville” remaining powerful evidence of his legacy.
Due to his struggles with Parkinson’s, von Trier now lives part-time in a nursing home, but his producer, Peter Aalbæk Jensen, has consistently stated that the situation would not deter the filmmaker from making “After.”
Von Trier hasn’t directed a film since 2018’s “The House That Jack Built,” an unfairly maligned three-hour dark comedy about a serial killer, played by Matt Dillon. It was provocative, disgusting, fearless, trolling—von Trier’s best traits.
Beyond the von Trier intel, the rest of THR’s Cannes spitball has more or less already been reported in these pages: Mungiu, Almodovar, Hamaguchi, Kore-eda, Zvyagintsev, Refn, Farhadi, Pawlikowski, Serra, Coen etc.
They still believe James Gray’s “Paper Tiger” might show up, and that’s despite previous intel that it was aiming for Venice. Meanwhile, Mike Leigh’s still-untitled new film, which wrapped production in January, could still make it, “if completed in time.”
However, we can forget about Östlund, Iñárritu, Malick, Spielberg, and Nolan. I’ll probably have another spitball coming next week. For now, this is what the intel has been hinting at.
COMPETITION CONTENDERS
Bitter Christmas (Pedro Almodovar)
Fjord (Cristi Mungiu)
Jack of Spades (Joel Coen)
Minotaur (Andrey Zvyagintsev)
All of a Sudden (Ryusuke Hamaguchi)
Her Private Hell (Nicolas Winding Refn)
Parallel Tales (Asghar Farhadi)
Hope (Na Hong-jin)
1949 (Pawel Pawlikowski)
Out of this World (Albert Serra)
Sheep in the Box (Hirokazu Kore-eda)
It Will Happen Tonight (Nanni Moretti)
The Unknown (Arthur Harari)
Gentle Monster (Marie Kreutzer)
Butterfly Jam (Kantemir Balagov)
Wake of Umbra (Carlos Reygadas)
POSSIBILITIES
Après (Kirill Serebrenikko)
Alpha Gang (The Zellner Brothers)
The Loved One (Rodrigo Sorogoyen)
The Long Winter (Andrew Haigh)
Let Love In (Felix Van Groeningen)
Double Freedom (Lisandro Alonso)
Switzerland (Anton Corbijn)
The Man I Love (Ira Sachs)
The Costume (Corneliu Porumboiu)
The Diary of a Chambermaid (Radu Jude)
Bucking Fastards (Werner Herzog)
Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (Jane Schoenbrun)
The Dream Adventure (Valeska Grisebach)
Hot Spot (Agnieszka Smoczyńska)
I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning (Clio Barnard)
As is tradition, Cannes boss Thierry Frémaux will select the French films in competition—usually four or five titles—at the very last minute, the day before the lineups are announced. Here are the films vying for those spots.
FRENCH CONTENDERS
Moulin (Laszlo Nemes)
A Good Little Soldier (Stephane Brizé)
Roma Elastico (Bertrand Mandico)
Histoires De La Nuit (Lea Mysius)
I’ll Forget Your Name (Yann Gonzalez)
Milo (Nicole Garcia)
Strawberries (Laïla Marrakchi)
Garance (Jeanne Herry)
When the Night Falls (Daniel Auteuil)
A Girl’s Story (Judith Godreche)
A Place To Heal (Cedric Kahn)
Red Rocks (Bruno Dumont)
La Chaleur (Stéphane Demoustier)
Venus Electrificata (Pierre Salvadori)
The Last Concert (Alexandre Arcady)
Love Lessons (Martin Prevost)
OUT OF COMPETITION
Full Phil (Quentin Dupieux)
Colony (Yeon Sang-ho)
Imperium (Sergei Loznitsa)
Victorian Psycho (Zachary Wigon)
De Gaulle: Part One (Antonin Baudry)
Violette (Jean-Pierre Jeunet)
Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo (Takashi Miike)
Lost Paradise (Yeon Sang-ho)
NEVER SAY NEVER (BUT PROBABLY NOT)
Paper Tiger (James Gray)
The Way of the Wind (Terrence Malick)
Untitled (Mike Leigh)
Digger (Alejandro G. Inarritu)
Disclosure (Steven Spielberg)
I actually find that number optimistic. Tickets for “Digger” go on sale next Tuesday, and presales will give us a better picture of how bad it’s looking.