05 · 12 · 10

Critics’ Week highlights Humor

Clara Sánchez desde Cannes

Le Nom des gens drew a large crowd among those attending the festival, with dozens of people having to remain outside after arriving more than 40 minutes before the screening. Berjon explained that an elderly French prime minister appears in the film as an actor. “This has provoked shock waves among the French, but more than that the film is a vision of society, very cleverly provocative and funny.”

The artistic director said that in addition to this film there are two other comedies, Copacabana by Marc Fitoussi starring Isabelle Huppert and Rubber by French director Quentin Dupieux. “Both are [the director’s] second films and show visions of society with the kind of humor that does not shy away from the absurd [found] in whatever form of comedy. Copacabana is very tender, and Rubber is a story about a tire that is abandoned in the middle of the desert that begins to roam around by itself. It has the idea that it is going to take revenge against all lost items and it is going to kill to transform himself into Mr. Kilo. It is totally crazy but at the same time it is a reflection present in many films … about the moment when we wake up and want to change the world, like this tire did, in order to say, ‘no more.’”

Berjon said that the seven first films in competition meet the high expectations and demands required by the judges and the directors themselves. “We have a small Latin American presence - there are no feature films in competition, only short and medium-length films. We also have a special Mexican film which is very strong, a selection of shorts called Revolución by what I consider the best of Mexican film [directors] who have been growing [in importance] these years, from Carlos Reygadas to Fernando Eimbcke, among others. It is a great pleasure and honor to present these 10 directors. It is a magnificent artistic program, very mature, and at the same time a very interesting vision of what still remains of the Revolution 100 years after in the Mexico of today. The fact that it is made by young people makes it even more worthwhile and important given the nature of the theme.”