On the film front many features are dividing audiences and the lines are not clearly drawn between press screenings and premieres and sometimes even their actors. Sicario, a dark thriller about the drug wars on the U.S.-Mexican border got mixed reactions and mostly positive reviews but again raised this year’s Cannes gender-question when director Denis Villeneuve admitted that the script had been lingering on U.S.-studio shelves for years: “People were afraid of it because the lead was female and they asked the writer several times to re-write the part for a man.” Emily Blunt finally snagged the part of an FBI-agent but rejects the movie’s selling point by depicting her as a character that represents female empowerment: “I get that question a lot, the tough female one. And I get a lot of offers for seemingly tough roles that I don’t see that way. I shy away from compartmentalizing them, they are all different” she says, adding: “This character is quite damaged and vulnerable and struggling in the role of being a female cop. She’s trying to survive in a predominantly male profession”. It remains to be seen if the brutal depiction of the drug wars on both sides of the border stands a chance in the competition. On one hand there are Joel and Ethan Coen who made No Country For Old Men, on the other hand the predominantly female jury may be turned off by the violence.
The biggest viewer divide was heard – and loudly! – at Wednesday’s morning screening of Paolo Sorrentino’s Youth, starring Michael Caine and Harvey Keitel as aging artists in a spa hotel in the Alps. As soon as the credits started rolling, boos were heard from one end of the theater while the other reacted with applause and bravos. One thing everyone agreed on was the beautiful cinematography (a repeat of the reaction on Sicario) but is style-over-substance really enough to win the Palme d’Or? While Sicario’s drug/law enforcement story seemed banal at times – at least to many U.S. based journalists accustomed to seeing it on their news every day – the Sorrentino is more lyrical and unusual which may play well for the La Grande Bellezza Golden Globe-winning auteur. Here are some critic’s reactions from twitter:
Peter Debruge @AskDebruge
Based on vocal mix of applause & boos, Paolo Sorrentino’s YOUTH looks to be the most divisive (& most worthy?) film in #Cannes competition.
10:28 AM – 20 May 2015

Justin Chang @JustinCChang
Paola Sorrentino’s YOUTH greeted with a mix of bravos and boos. Not sure it deserves either, though it’s (predictably) gorgeous. #Cannes15
10:29 AM – 20 May 2015

Agnes Poirier @AgnesCPoirier
Paulo Sorrentino’s YOUTH is the most conceited, inane, egocentric piece of… Cinema I have seen in years. #Cannes2015
10:45 AM – 20 May 2015
Kate Muir @muirkate
Loved Sorrentino’s Youth with Michael Caine and Harvey Keitel. My favorite at #Cannes2015 so far.
10:34 AM – 20 May 2015

On the other side of town it was Aishwarya Raj Bachchan that moved a group of Bollywood fans to tears by showing some scenes from her comeback film Jazbaa at a seaside event. And first-time director Neeraj Ghaywan’s Masaan, premiering in the afternoon, had the audience on its feet for a five minute standing ovation.
And then there was yet another documentary that drew unanimous praise: Swedish director Stig Bjorkman’s Ingrid Bergman, In Her Own Words. And yes, she may grace the 2015 Cannes poster, smiling and beautiful, but in the doc she comes across as cold and arrogant and more like a Mommie Dearest. Especially unsettling is a scene where oldest daughter Pia Lindstrøm comments on an interview in which Bergman talks about what a good parent she was. Lindstrøm disputes this by being surprised and adding that she wonders why she was always gone and every movie was more important to her than her children. The film paints a very different portrait of the star than the kind of woman one thinks of as a legend today.
Elisabeth Sereda

U.S.-Israeli actress and director Natalie Portman (2nd-L) poses with South Korean director Hong Won-Chan (2nd-L) and Hungarian director Laszlo Nemes (L) as they arrive with other guests for the screening of the film ‘Sicario’ at the 68th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southeastern France, on May 19, 2015.

U.S. actress Jane Fonda, British actor Michael Caine, U.S. actor Harvey Keitel, Italian director Paolo Sorrentino, British actress Rachel Weisz and U.S. actor Paul Dano pose as they arrive for the screening of the film Youth at the 68th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southeastern France, on May 20, 2015.