Cannes embraced Pawel Pawlikowski‘s Fatherland on Thursday night, as the new film from director of Ida and Cold War had it world premiere in competition at the Palais.
The filmmaker and his cast were awarded a four-and-a-half-minute standing ovation inside the Palais’ Grand Lumiére Theatre. “Thank you so much, I hope at least half of you really meant it,” said Pawlikowski about the reception. “To be here with these beautiful people who worked on this film in really hard conditions, we have arrived at Versailles — at this beautiful temple to cinema — and all our strife and troubles are forgotten. And I think, for once, I really enjoyed watching my film,” he laughed. “Looking at these beautiful actors and great photography — everything. Thank you.”
Pawlikowski walked the red carpet with his star Sandra Hüller, who was wearing a knock-out Liza Minnelli-esque feather wrap, Hanns Zischler and August Diehl, as well as supporting cast members Devid Striesow and Anna Madeley. Unsurprisingly, Hüller, a Cannes darling, was awarded a huge applause ahead of the premiere.
The German-language film explores the relationship between Thomas Mann (Zischler) and his daughter Erika (Hüller) on their return to Germany after the war and self-imposed exile. They travel through West and East Germany as Mann is lauded by both the communist and capitalist governments. The journey turns into a reckoning between father and daughter in their former homeland. The cast also includes Diehl (A Hidden Life), Striesow (All Quiet on the Western Front) and Madeley (In Bruges).
Pawlikowski was last in Cannes with Cold War in 2018, like Fatherland a black-and-white period drama exploring the trauma of recent European history. The film won the best director prize and went on to secure a best director nomination at the Oscars. Pawlikowski’s Ida won the best international feature Oscar in 2015. Pawlikowski co-wrote the Fatherland screenplay with German director Hendrik Handloegten (Love in Thoughts, Babylon Berlin) and re-teamed with his Ida and Cold War cinematographer Lukasz Żal.
Hüller was the queen of Cannes three years ago, starring in Justine Triet’s Palme d’Or winning Anatomy of a Fall and Jonathan Glazer’s Zone of Interest, a one-two punch that catapulted the German actress to international fame and Hollywood projects. She is already having a phenomonal year. Hüller won the best performance award at this year’s Berlinale for her starring turn in Markus Schleinzer’s drama Rose and starred alongside Ryan Gosling in Phil Lord and Christopher Miller’s sci-fi comedy blockbuster Project Hail Mary. Following Fatherland, she stars, together with Tom Cruise, in Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s upcoming feature Digger.
Hüller will join Scott Feinberg, The Hollywood Reporter‘s executive awards editor for a live recording of THR’s Awards Chatter podcast, in Cannes on Friday.
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