Presented in official competition at the Cannes Film Festival, Limonov, the ballad managed to make an impression thanks to the masterful performance of an inhabited Ben Whishaw.
Kirill Serebrennikov he was back on the Croisette, two years after his appearance Tchaikovsky’s wife (2022) as part of the selection in official contest of Limonov, the ballad. Adaptation of the novel byEmmanuel Carrère, the film presents in an original way a biopic on the life of the poet Édouard Limonov. By turns militant, revolutionary, thug, butler or homeless, this new proposal from the Russian director explores the different facets of a character as fascinating as he is frightening to whom the British actor, Ben Whishawgives its characteristics.
Although it is difficult to get into the film, due to the flowing dialogues and the sometimes dense environment, Limonov, the ballad surprising with its rhythm, finally faithful to the trajectory of a character who has had many lives. On the other hand, this aspect is reinforced by the notion of a “road trip” that takes us from New York to Paris, through the Siberian prison. The film never stops and makes the subject more digestible, as does its staging.
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This one – divided into chapters in echo of its literary adaptation and the novelist who was the artist nicknamed “Eddie” – appears very pop, as an extraordinary man, who often puts himself outside the conventions.
However, despite this “glamorization”, Limonov, the ballad it carries with it a certain violence, sometimes difficult to watch. His character disturbs all the four corners of the world, Kirill Serebrennikov especially wanting to reflect the reality of a man, his contradictions, a hero far from being Manichean, but who remains difficult to understand.
An Acting Award for Ben Whishaw?
The actor appears today as a serious candidate for the Best Actor Award. Having evolved subtle to Ira Sachs in Passages (2023), the actor, revealed to the general public for his role as Q in the saga James Bond played by Daniel Craig, powerfully embodies the dead Russian nationalist in 2020.
He thus reveals the whole purpose of his game, and demonstrates the ability to reinvent himself by exploring complex roles. Above all, Ben Whishaw gives himself body and soul to this role, both in raw sex scenes and when he recites poetry like his speeches. It multiplies records and metamorphoses through a variety of identities and costumes. Exciting.
The Male Actor Award would be a great recognition for the actor who never ceases, through projects – both authorial and more general public – – to amaze his audience. To find out, we have to wait for the color, this Saturday, May 25, 2024. In any case, let’s keep our fingers crossed for him!