how much is the Palme d’Or winning film worth?

With Now, Sean Baker asserts himself as a director by creating a feminist fable and a social drama about contemporary America. The film won the Palme d’Or in this 77th edition of the Cannes Film Festival.

The name ofNow is on everyone’s lips. Since its presentation in competition, Sean Baker’s film seems to have become a serious candidate for the Palme d’Or. And for good reason, the director to whom we owe Red Rocket (2022) gained ground. Dense and more masterful in terms of rhythm and writing than his previous work, Now is based on the tasty humor – a mark of its filmmaker who does not hesitate to capture the lightness in the most serious moments -, a vitality of the characters that the director films with great humanity, but above all a solid staging, sometimes daring.

Now follows Ani, a sex worker played by Mikey Madison; kind of beautiful woman (1990) of modern times. Except that, unlike the 1980s comedy starring Richard Gere and Julia Roberts, the couple that Anora will form with a young Russian heir, Vanya, met in a strip club, will quickly take off when the family of the latter forces them to divorce after a marriage. in Las Vegas. Anora’s dream, for which we fell in love with the smallest punchline, will quickly collapse when Vanya’s Russian henchmen will do everything to take them to court to annul their union.

A writing genius

With NowSean Baker shows that he is now a director who counts in the cinema, and no longer only in the American independent cinema that saw him born with The Florida Project (2017). He proves that he is a true author capable of grasping all the nuances of his characters and defining their contours, ultimately better deconstructing them later. Thus, the child that we hoped was very sincere turned out to be distressingly childishly selfish, Anora, a stripper with a strong tongue, will finally reveal a striking fragility, while the gang of Russian mobsters offers a lot of laughter rather than evoking a certain one. fear in the viewer.

At Anora, this doesn’t work either. It must be said that the heroine is particularly powerful, first with her body, but also all the rage she has in her to fight with her enemies. Sean Baker knows how to write his main characters, especially his female characters. She knows how to stand out, often in front of ridiculous and crazy men, to better support her femininity and her freedom. So, if in Rocket Rocket Strawberry suffered from the madness of Simon, Rex, Anora, for her part, had to deal with a group of Russian gunmen.

A fresh social

Also, the freshness ofNow it stands in its rhythm close to sexual comedy and feminist drama. The film never falls into the misery of the condition of its heroine. He never makes them prey or victims. Now, even in the most delicate situations, he has a rare strength, he makes men who are always ridiculous.

On another scale, Sean Baker, a keen observer of his native America, also recounts the class struggle. Now it takes, in fact, as its outlines the struggle of the proletarians against the excesses of the ultra-rich; the illusion that money provides and the trap it can represent in a society that constantly supports the pursuit of the American dream.

Afterwards Rocket Rocket, the filmmaker once again questions this theme and his eternal lost search. He first observes this through the character of Vanya, a young man of Russian origin who seeks to acquire American nationality to challenge the authority of his parents. After Anora, a sex worker who sees in this union a chance to get out of it.

Feminist fresco and social comedy, Now it is unexpectedly rich, both in its subject, in its staging, and in the understanding of its characters. Of a rare density, but at the same time particularly subtle, the film is above all the affirmation of a filmmaker and an author through the look he has on contemporary cinema, feminism, but also on the so America All these themes recall the work of Greta Gerwig at the beginning of her career, but also with barbie (2023). The president of the jury was certainly convinced by one of his counterparts of the contemporary New Hollywood. This award marks the end of two weeks of competition on 77 Festival of Cannes.