Top 150 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2019: #2. The Truth – Hirokazu Kore-eda

The Truth

Fresh off his 2018 Palme d’Or winning Shoplifters (review), prolific Japanese auteur Hirokazu Kore-eda continues his perennial output with his latest project, The Truth, which is headlined by Catherine Deneuve and Juliette Binoche in what will serve as his French language debut. Ever since graduating from documentary to narrative filmmaking with 1995’s Maborosi, Koreeda has been a major international favorite, competing in Cannes five times (Distance, 2001; Nobody Knows, 2004; Like Father, Like Son, 2013; Our Little Sister, 2015; Shoplifters, 2018) and twice in Venice (Maborosi, 1995; The Third Murder, 2017). A notable supporting cast also includes Ethan Hawke and Ludivine Sagnier (who starred opposite Deneuve in Ozon’s 8 Women, 2002). But the delicious duo of Deneuve and Binoche (here positioned in an the opposing role of a similar juxtaposition showcased in Olivier Assayas’ 2014 title Clouds of Sils Maria) in a Kore-eda film makes this one of the most anticipated offerings of 2019. Ash Is Purest White dp Eric Gautier signed onto his first collab with Kore-eda.

Gist: Binoche and Hawke star as a married couple who return to France upon the publication of her mother’s (Deneuve, playing an actress named Catherine) memoirs. The publication arouses controversial topics for mother and daughter in what is purportedly based on an unproduced stage play penned by Kore-eda (other sources contend the mother-daughter reunion is precipitated by the elder woman’s casting in a science-fiction production about a mother who never grows old).

Release Date? With Wild Bunch on board for international sales mixed into Kore-eda’s Cannes resume and the pedigree of its French icons, we expect The Truth to be a shoe-in for the Cannes comp this May.