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CANNES

Lily-Rose Depp makes Cannes debut to mixed reviews

The 16-year-old daughter of French actress Vanessa Paradis and Johnny Depp has stardust running in her veins, but Lily-Rose Depp divided Cannes critics on Friday in her role as American dancer Isadora Duncan.

Lily-Rose Depp makes Cannes debut to mixed reviews
Movie website filmstage.com said Depp "positively dazzles as Isadora". Photo: AFP

The striking teenager — who bears a remarkable resemblance to her mother — walked the red carpet in a bohemian off-the-shoulder gown before the premiere of “La Danseuse” (The Dancer) which is in the sidebar “Un Certain Regard” section of the Cannes film festival.

The movie tells the story of famous Belle Epoque dancer Loie Fuller — played by French actress Soko — who later fell into obscurity, and her complex relationship with protegee and rival Duncan.

“After meeting Isadora, who she secretly falls in love with, Loie Fuller could no longer dance. To her Isadora is the embodiment of beauty, grace, youth and genius, everything that she could never be,” director Stephanie Di Gusto told AFP.

The director described Depp as “exceptionally gifted” and a born star, and while the film received warm applause from critics, some panned her performance.

Entertainment website The Wrap described the film as “a pretty good movie with a number of sequences so breathtaking they will knock your socks off” and praised Soko's performance.

But for Depp they criticised a “wooden and lifeless performance” summing up with: “She is fine, I guess”

The Hollywood Reporter said Depp added “decorative value, if not a whole lot in terms of acting ability.”

However movie website filmstage.com said Depp “positively dazzles as Isadora”.

With her winning genes Depp has already carved out a career as a model, becoming the teenage face of Chanel, and made her cinema debut in the film “Tusk” alongside her father in 2014.

She will also soon appear in the film “Planetarium” alongside Natalie Portman, about sisters who can communicate with ghosts.

 

FILM

French film club for English speakers returns to cinemas

Lost in Frenchlation, a film club that screens French films with English subtitles in Paris, is returning to cinemas this weekend after holding virtual screenings during lockdown.

French film club for English speakers returns to cinemas
Photo: LOIC VENANCE / AFP

Wednesday saw the reopening of cafés, restaurants, museums, theatres and cinemas in France since October.

This means that Lost in Frenchlation can return to cinemas, and film buffs who struggle to watch French movies without English subtitles can meet up again this weekend at the Luminor Hotel de Ville where the first screening is taking place this Sunday.

READ ALSO: French cinemas face 400-film backlog as they prepare to reopen

What’s on the programme?

The first event taking place on Sunday, May 23rd is a screening of Albert Dupontel’se César awarded film “Adieu les cons” (Bye bye Morons), a comedy drama about a woman who tries to find her long-lost child with a help of a man in the middle of a burnout and a blind archivist.

On Sunday, May 30th there will be a Mother’s Day special screening of “Énorme”, comedy, starring Marina Foïs and Jonathan Cohen, at Club de l’Étoile in the 17th arrondissement in Paris. 

On Saturday, May 22nd, there will be a virtual screening of “Joli Mai” by Chris Marker (1963) which inspired the documentary film Le Joli Mai 2020. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Chris Marker specialist & journalist Jean-Michel Frodon.

Lost in Frenchlation is a company that sets up screenings of recent French film releases with English subtitles to give Paris’s large international community access to French culture and meet others in the same situation.

For more information, check out their website or sign up to their newsletter (link here).

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