Spike Lee missed the world premiere of Thelma & Louise, director Ridley Scott’s groundbreaking female road movie starring Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon. The movie screened out of competition as the Cannes Film Festival’s closing night film in 1991, directly following the presentation of that year’s awards. But Lee didn’t stick around after the Palme d’Or went to the Coen brothers’ Barton Fink — a bit of an upset since his own Jungle Fever had been heavily touted as a favorite.
Everyone else, though, got to witness the debut of a movie that turned traditional Hollywood tropes upside down as it celebrated the resourcefulness of its two liberated female protagonists. Likening the film to “a witty feminist version of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” THR critic Henry Sheehan said, “Davis, who despite her desperate circumstances has never looked more glamorous, does not have the big dramatic scenes that Sarandon has, but her character more comically undergoes the biggest changes, and Davis embodies them with clarity and persuasion.” Speaking with the Los Angeles Times, Davis said, “This is a movie about adventures of women, and that’s rare. And that’s really sad that it’s rare, and we can’t think of another movie like this.”
As if a testament to the film’s genuine and long-lasting singularity, the 2026 Cannes Film Festival is using a photograph of Davis and Sarandon taken on the set of Thelma & Louise as the striking image for this year’s poster.
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