Pictures from the films: Dolor y GLoria - Rocketman - Les Silences de Johnny © DR
The biographic contours of the Selection
Each year, the Official Selection, with its overview of film production around the world, reveals thematic or aesthetic trends that give each year a unique feel. Topical currents? Coincidences? The coming together of works that travel beyond the borders of their countries of origin makes it possible to shine a varied spotlight on each of them. One theme that encompasses the selections this year, for example, is that of works inspired by real characters. Here is a brief overview of the films of the 72nd edition that toy with (auto)biography, from biopics to documentaries, including films based on the life of their director.
Biopics
Rocketman by Dexter Fletcher
A specialist in biopics (Freddy Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) and the athlete Michael Edwards in Eddie the Eagle (2016), Dexter Fletcher chooses to celebrate the career of Elton John in Rocketman, from his childhood till his accession to global stardom. A project in which Elton John himself played an active part.
Jeanne (Joan of Arc) by Bruno Dumont
Jeannette portrayed the childhhood of Joan of Arc in 2017. Two years later, Bruno Dumont focuses, in his film Jeanne (Joan of Arc), on the historic character of Joan of Arc, the Liberator of Orleans.
A Hidden Life by Terrence Malick
With A Hidden Life, the director of The Tree of Life (2011) tells the true story of the unknown hero Franz Jägerstätter (August Diehl), an Austrian farmer who, by openly opposing Nazism, puts his own life and that of his family in danger.
Il Traditore (The Traitor) by Marco Bellochio
In Il Traditore (The Traitor), with the portrait of Tommaso Buscetta, the first big Mafia gangster to repent, Marco Bellochio also depicts the life of a modern-day character.
Films that draw inspiration from the director's life
Dolor y Gloria (Pain and Glory) by Pedro Almodóvar
Dolor y Gloria (Pain and Glory) is a "man's film", starring Antonio Banderas. In creating this character of a burdened anti-hero, a reclusive and melancholic director, Pedro Almodóvar flirts with autobiography. He films his own apartment, lends his clothes to the character of Salvador, and speaks openly of autofiction.
Tommaso by Abel Ferrara
Tommaso charts the daily life of an American artist living in Rome, whose wife and daughter are the real-life wife and daughter of director Abel Ferrara. Played by Willem Dafoe, the character is working on the same project as the director himself: Siberia. For him, the film "vacillates between what is and what isn't real" and it hardly matters whether the origins of a story are true or false. The American filmmaker has lived in Rome for many years and Tommaso was shot in his apartment.
Biographical documentaries
Diego Maradona by Asif Kapadia
Asif Kapadia turns his attention here to the "Pibe de oro" (Golden Kid) in his Naples years – the most intense of his career. Nine years after Senna, the Latin American football legend is honoured in this documentary presented Out of Competition. Maradona was involved in the project.
Forman Vs Forman by Helena Trestikova & Jakub Hejna
In homage to the director of Amadeus (1984), the documentary dives into the career of Miloš Forman, from the Czech New Wave to Hollywood, through original archieves and fragments of life narrated by the director's son, Petr Forman.
Cinecitta – I mestieri del Cinema Bernardo Bertolucci: No End Travelling by Mario Sesti
Mario Sesti, journalist and friend of Bernardo Bertolucci, gives a sensitive account of the master's work, featuring several extracts from interviews with the director of Stealing Beauty (1996). A rare insight into the maker of Ultimo tango a Parigi (Last Tango à Paris, 1972).
Les Silences de Johnny by Pierre-William Glenn
Johnny Hallyday was of course a singer, but also an actor. And it is this facet of the career of the legend who passed away in 2017 that interests Pierre-William Glenn in Les Silences de Johnny.
