The Best of Cannes 2025
DIE MY LOVE
Courtesy of MUBI
The consistently bleak tone of “Die My Love” will be fascinating to some and an endurance test to everyone else. Then again, director Lynne Ramsay has never turned her back on dark material so why start now. From the community turmoil of “We Need to Talk About Kevin” to the suicidal struggles of “You Were Never Really Here,” if someone is going to adapt the original novel’s themes of postpartum depression, Ramsay is the perfect choice. The good news is leads actors Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson are more than willing to match and even surpass the film’s weird kinks. Lawrence in particular shines, or rather, devours her role as Grace, a new mother who is definitely having second thoughts about the new baby in her house. Manic episodes involving graphic sex, violence toward animals and radical hallucinations are on the menu for this jet black mood piece that is best digested with an open mind.
ELEANOR THE GREAT
Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics
A little white lie that quickly explodes out of control is at the center of the tonally inconsistent but equally charming “Eleanor the Great.” June Squibb commands the film as the cantankerous Eleanor, taking the lessons she learned from last year’s “Thelma” and adding an extra level of sass to her loud and misunderstood character. Eleanor is in her nineties and only has one priority in life, spending time with her best friend Bessie (Rita Zohar). From trips to the supermarket to sharing deep dark secrets, there’s nothing these two Florida seniors won’t open up about. But when a sudden life change forces Eleanor to move back to New York City and start fresh with her daughter and grandson, adjusting won’t be easy. Director Scarlett Johansson’s decision to not keep story beats familiar and instead shake things up by inciting huge character shifts midway into the film are welcomed but offer mixed results. In the end its Squibb’s humble and generous screen presence that saves the film from these missteps.
NOUVELLE VAGUE
Courtesy of Netflix
Appropriately light and full of energy, “Nouvelle Vague” offers an imagined glimpse into the making of the seminal French New Wave classic “Breathless.” Jean-Luc Godard, Jean-Paul Belmondo and other cinematic titans make fictionalized appearances but none are as front-and-center as Jean Seberg. Here she’s played by Zoey Deutch, matching Seberg’s look and vibrant nature, and it’s the role that director Richard Linklater smartly highlights. They last worked together on “Everybody Wants Some!!” and that earlier film’s airy and playful tone is also on display here. “Nouvelle Vague” isn’t meant to be a deep dissection of a profound classic but instead its intentions are more of a hangout film with accessible entertainment on its mind. On that easy-to-digest agenda, the film more than succeeds.
SENTIMENTAL VALUE
Courtesy of Neon
Celebrated filmmaker Gustav Borg (Stellan Skarsgaard) has recently hit a creative rough patch after years of artistic endeavors that while lucrative, also cost him any meaningful connection to his family. His daughter Nora (Renate Reinsve) turned to acting and was hit hardest by his absence and that’s exactly what Gustav intends to fix, in his own stubborn and unique way. It would be too troublesome for the artist to simply apologize for his own misgivings throughout the years, instead he’d rather cast Nora in his latest project and direct her into a roundabout admission of guilt. When that complicated plan backfires, laughs and pain flow in equal measure, making for one of the year’s best films. Director Joaquim Trier (“The Worst Person in the World”) knows how to walk a tonal tightrope of comedic vulnerability but he takes that skill to another level in “Sentimental Value.” Skarsgaard in particular digs deep into the material to give a flawed and complicated performance that stands tall with the very best of his career.
