The wait is almost over, and tomorrow Thierry Frémaux and co. will pull back the curtain on the lineup of the Cannes Film Festival. This morning we learned that the restored version of Sergio Leone‘s “Once Upon A Time In America” will get a special screening, and now the organizers have announced what film will be the last to unspool.
Claude Miller‘s “Thérèse D” starring Audrey Tautou has been given the closing night slot at the festival. The filmmaker is no stranger to Cannes. He won the Jury Prize for “La classe de neige” in 1998 (tied with Thomas Vinterberg‘s “Festen“) and was also up for a Palme d’Or when he returned in 2003 with “Little Lili.” The director had just finished work on “Thérèse D” when he passed on April 4th, so this is a pretty nice posthumous honor to give the filmmaker. As for the film, it’s based on the novel by François Mauriac (previously made into a movie in 1962 by Georges Franju) that tells the tale of a young, intelligent woman in 1920s France who marries but soon becomes bored with her rural life, and seeks a way out by poisoning her husband.
So now that we know what’s opening (Wes Anderson‘s “Moonrise Kingdom“) and closing the fest, we can’t wait to see what’s sandwiched in the middle. The Cannes Film Festival runs from May 16-23.
