Twisted rape tale hands women power – ‘Salesman’ an Iranian revenge film

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CANNES, France, May 21, (Agencies): A twisted rape thriller by “Basic Instinct” director Paul Verhoeven drew rave reviews Saturday in Cannes, where it was one of two films about a woman trying to prise back control from her attacker. As a psychological rape comedy-thriller, the Dutch director’s latest work “Elle” had everything to set critics on edge before the screening.

But the story of a powerful woman played by French actress Isabelle Huppert who is assaulted and embarks on a dangerous game with her attacker, was a surprise hit for its portrayal of a woman taking vengeance in her own, unexpected way. Huppert, 63, who some critics said had delivered the performance of her career, told journalists that it was the fact that her character “does not react in a predictable manner that creates the tension.”

“There is a suspense in the character herself because you don’t know exactly what she thinks.” French website L’Express hailed the film and its “perverse ambiguity”, which drew plenty of laughs from the audience. “One can already hear screams of bloody murder about the unacceptable link between rape and pleasure. It has nothing to do with that,” wrote its critic.

Hilarious

The Guardian’s Nigel Smith tweeted that the film was “perverse, hilarious and insanely pleasurable”. The movie is based on the book “Oh …” by Philippe Dijan, who dismissed views that Huppert’s character had fallen in love with her attacker. “She is someone who tries not to obey all the codes of society. She feels this is really her own personal freedom, and that is a bit frightening because she is a woman and people don’t want women to be free,” he said.

Huppert said she was not worried about people’s reaction to her bizarre relationship with her rapist, who she continues to draw into her life. “It’s not a statement about a woman being raped and accepting it. It doesn’t mean it happens to all women in the world. It happens to that woman in particular as an individual,” said Huppert.

The question of how a woman reacts to her attacker was also raised in the latest film by Iranian director Asghar Farhadi, “The Salesman”, which also premieres Saturday. A couple is thrown into turmoil after an attack on the wife (Taraneh Alidoosti) in their home — the full nature of which is never clear — sends her husband on a revenge mission.

However she does not want him to exact the retribution he plans, and presents him with an ultimatum that she will leave him if he goes ahead with it, handing power back to her traumatised character. “I think both men and women are capable of violence, and a violence they think is legitimate,” Farhadi told AFP in an interview.

“Around the world one of our main challenges is violence that appears legitimate to those who carry it out.” Now that the dust is settling on Cannes 2016, it’s very possible that not a single movie that screened here will snag a best picture Oscar nod.

The project that came to Cannes with the loudest awards buzz was Jeff Nichols’ “Loving,” and it leaves the festival with its Oscars hopes intact — even if it didn’t earn the same raves as “Carol”. The story of a interracial couple (played by Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga), whose fight against anti-miscegenation laws led to a groundbreaking 1967 Supreme Court ruling, “Loving” is timely after the backlash from two consecutive years of #OscarsSoWhite. But it feels too quiet at times, at others, too “made-for-TV”. That restraint was nevertheless a goal. “It’s a very quiet civil rights film”, Nichols told Variety in an interview earlier this year. “Bombs aren’t exploding. Crosses aren’t burning. But the tension is all there”.

Focus Features acquired “Loving” out of the Berlin Film Festival in February, and like the distributor’s 2015 hopeful “The Danish Girl”, it might just miss out on a best pic nod. But its acclaimed lead performances will factor into the acting categories. Edgerton’s challenge will be that his work on screen is so understated, with the anger simmering beneath the surface of his character’s skin, whereas Academy voters tend to favor performances that explode. But by next January, bet on Negga as being one of the five women in the best actress race (particularly after voters get a load of her range on TV’s ultra-violent “Preacher” this summer).

The movie that generated the most excitement on the Croisette was Andrea Arnold’s dazzling “American Honey”, about a group of kids hustling for money on a cross-country road trip. At nearly three hours long, this favorite to win the Palme d’Or has the opposite problem as “Loving”: It’s probably too daring for most Oscar voters’ tastes. “American Honey” follows in the tradition of “Kids” or “Thirteen”, but it’s unlike any movie that I’ve ever seen.

It would be hysterical (in the best possible way) if lead actor Shia LaBeouf, after a string of bizarre performance art stunts, somehow found himself at the Dolby Theater with the likes of Meryl Streep and Matt Damon. He certainly delivers a tour-de-force, career-defining performance as the film’s male anti-hero, Jake. More likely, though, if enough voters see “American Honey”, Arnold could become the first woman nominated for best director since Kathryn Bigelow won the category in 2010 for “The Hurt Locker”. The fact that the director’s branch of the Academy has more indie-skewing tastes will work in her favor, if A24 spends enough money to properly campaign for the film.

In Olivier Assayas’ “Personal Shopper”, Kristen Stewart delivers one of her strongest turns — a raw and eerie portrait of a woman dealing with her twin brother’s unexpected death. But the IFC Films release may not open in the United States until 2017, and Oscar voters aren’t fans of spooky stories (just ask Nicole Kidman about 2001’s “The Others”).

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CANNES, France: Solveig Anspach’s “The Together Project” (L’Effet Aquatique) got a long standing ovation at a Cannes Film Festival “Directors Fortnight” showing, described by her co-writer as cathartic after the director’s death last year.

The cast and crew — most of them also involved in Anspach’s two previous films: “Lulu Femme Nue” and “Queen of Montreuil” — burst into tears after the screening.

Jean-Luc Gaget, a long-time collaborator of the American-Icelandic director, took over the editing process after Anspach died of cancer aged 54 before she could finish the film.

“It was solace to see that the film was here (in Cannes), that she was here with us. It was a cathartic moment that we’d been waiting for a long time because it was tough to finish this movie without her”, Gaget told Reuters.

“We were all very proud that this movie was here”.

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