Festival Circuit 2026

[Never Cursed]

How exactly did the jury bungle things in 2022?

They gave a bunch of bad movies awards. Stars at Noon, Close, and Broker were among the worst movies I saw that year, and I didn't like the Palme winner much better. (I liked Decision to Leave, EO, and The Eight Mountains, though).

[rrenault]

With Stars at Noon they were probably trying to compensate Claire Denis who was "overdue". I agree about EO and Decision to Leave being the best of the lot.

I'd probably include EO in my top ten of the 2020s.

[Ribs]

I don’t think that was the narrative - it was only her second film in Competition!

[rrenault]

Also, Vincent Lindon seems like an odd choice for jury president. He doesn't carry much international gravitas the way your typical Cannes jury president does.

On the other hand, I'd say it's pretty much inevitable Lea Seydoux will be jury president at some point in her lifetime. Among film directors, I could see Celine Sciamma being president at some point, and maybe PTA.

[The Narrator Returns]

Stars at Noon is so good, very close to my favorite Denis. I haven’t seen Holy Spider but I would be surprised if I agreed with that, or anything/one else that year, winning Actress over Margaret Qualley.

[domino harvey]

And I assume the Rohmer/Pialat thing is just due to availability? Like, the only Pialat that I've seen is La maison des bois, and only because the restoration was touring.

Pialat is a great example of how a well timed home media release can influence/inform general tastes. You saw Pialat being invoked far more here and elsewhere after the sextet of Masters of Cinema releases of his films in definitive editions. But a decade later Cohen’s overpriced and comparatively lackluster releases on Blu here in the states did absolutely nothing for his rep and he’s gone back to quasi obscurity

And Pialat’s win was considered at the time one of the worst Cannes wins ever (a position some still hold, like the author of that awful book on Cahiers du Cinema), which like audiences booing L’avventura is an unknowable and impossible to understand lapse of taste on a cosmic scale

[rrenault]

I'm surprised Janus haven't tried to gobble up the bulk of his filmography at this point, considering the Cohen releases are long out of print. We Won't Grow Old Together still appears to be with Kino though, and Police is with Olive (or was, so I'm not sure what the present situation would be).

[nitin]

Stars at Noon is so good, very close to my favorite Denis. I haven’t seen Holy Spider but I would be surprised if I agreed with that, or anything/one else that year, winning Actress over Margaret Qualley.

Although I dont like film that much, Zahra Ebrahimi was quite good in it. But agree re Qualley's work in Stars at Noon, also agree it's one of Denis' best along with another recent one, High Life.

The split jury prize last year for Sirat and Sound of Falling was also for two sui generis films, whether one liked them or not.

[Never Cursed]

And I assume the Rohmer/Pialat thing is just due to availability? Like, the only Pialat that I've seen is La maison des bois, and only because the restoration was touring.

Pialat is a great example of how a well timed home media release can influence/inform general tastes. You saw Pialat being invoked far more here and elsewhere after the sextet of Masters of Cinema releases of his films in definitive editions. But a decade later Cohen’s overpriced and comparatively lackluster releases on Blu here in the states did absolutely nothing for his rep and he’s gone back to quasi obscurity

And Pialat’s win was considered at the time one of the worst Cannes wins ever (a position some still hold, like the author of that awful book on Cahiers du Cinema), which like audiences booing L’avventura is an unknowable and impossible to understand lapse of taste on a cosmic scale

Glad you chimed in, because my follow-up question was going to be: which Pialats should I seek out next? Is Sous le soleil de Satan his best feature, or is there something else I should watch first?

And also I assume the reasoning you describe is why most of the Rohmers people have seen are those in the two Criterion boxes

[therewillbeblus]

À Nos Amours should probably be where you start, as it's also one of his best and most popular. But I love Sous le soleil de Satan to death. I'm pretty sure no one else shared my reading of it as a horror film, though!

[domino harvey]

Yes those two plus Police are my favorites. I’m due to revisit all of them though. I know they’re DVDs (except Van Gogh) but the MoC editions of Pialat’s films are incredible resources in terms of extras both on disc and in booklets, if you can find cheap copies on eBay

[Never Cursed]

Thanks, will try and track those down

[knives]

I really adore The Mouth Agape as well though that is a much tougher watch. His first is also excellent.

[domino harvey]

That one is my least favorite of his features and I already have it on Blu in the Cohen set but I recently bought the MoC for the nine (!) shorts included. FYI first come first serve there’s a like new copy up for $20 right now on eBay, considerably cheaper than I’ve seen in the past

And I got it wrong in my memory: the initial MoC lineup was a septet not a sextet and then the 8th was Van Gogh later on down the line. The booklets alone must be near 400 pages total across the releases

[dwk]

I'm surprised Janus haven't tried to gobble up the bulk of his filmography at this point, considering the Cohen releases are long out of print. We Won't Grow Old Together still appears to be with Kino though, and Police is with Olive (or was, so I'm not sure what the present situation would be).

Me too. Someone at Criterion/Janus clearly loves Pialat's films, because the Channel has had 2 separate runs featuring the bulk of his filmography. But, I think Cohen probably still has the rights to the films, even if they are currently OOP on disc. (as for Police, that one wasn't in the most recent collection on the Channel, which I assume means it is still tied up in the wreckage of Olive.)