Cannes Film Festival audiences have a reputation for being kind of assholish, and will loudly boo and jeer almost any film for any inscrutable reason they please.
Earlier this week, the Kristen Stewart horror film Personal Shopper, directed by former Cannes golden boy Olivier Assayas, was roundly booed by angsty French critics.
Then you have The Neon Demon, Nicolas Winding Refn‘s batshit insane-looking take on the world of modelling, which had some in the audience shouting “fuck you” at its conclusion.
This year’s festival has claimed yet another victim, in the form of Sean Penn‘s newest directorial effort, The Last Face, which sees Charlize Theron star alongside Javier Bardem, as a doctor during a conflict in Africa.
Per New York Times reports, the screening of the romantic drama was basically doomed from the get-go:
As the opening title cards, laid over an educational map of Africa, prepared us for action set during the second Liberian Civil War in 2003, a second set of title cards in a more lyrical italicized font flashed onscreen, comparing that crisis with the vicious tribal rebellion in South Sudan a decade later, and that conflict to “the brutality of impossible love shared by a man” — fade to black, wait for it — “… and a woman.” There was a millisecond pause for shock before much of the audience burst out laughing.
Vulture’s reviewer noted that the audience broke into unintentional giggles at several times throughout the film, then joined together in a round of boos upon its conclusion.
The subsequent reviews were not very kind. Variety’s chief critic suggested that The Last Face was actually the reason for Penn and Theron’s break-up:
Is it possible Charlize Theron saw a rough cut of THE LAST FACE and *then* ended things with Sean Penn? I would.
— Guy Lodge (@GuyLodge) May 20, 2016
Meanwhile, Time Out’s critic panned the film for its apparently shoddy treatment of Africa and Africans:
Sean Penn’s THE LAST FACE: awful. Pompous romance with human suffering as wallpaper. Pleads empathy with Africa. Zero real black characters.
— Dave Calhoun (@davecalhoun) May 20, 2016
At a press conference after the screening, a dejected Penn said “I stand by the film as it is, and everyone is going to be entitled to their response,” before adding that he’ll consider his job done once audiences of non-critics see the film.
Apparently, El Chapo has nothing on your average Cannes audience.
Source: Vulture.
Photo: Tristan Fewings / Getty.
