2016 Cannes Critics’ Panel Day 2: Guiraudie is Hungry Like the Wolf with “Staying Vertical”

The last time Alain Guiraudie was on the Croisette, it was pretty much unanimous that his Un Certain Regard selected and Best Director winning Stranger by the Lake should have been included in Lumiere theatre’s slate (in competition). This year, Guiraudie was granted (some say guaranteed) a walk up the red carpet for his seventh feature film, Staying Vertical. Produced by Sylvie Pialat and Benoît Quainon, this stars Damien Bonnard as Léo, features a wolf, assisted suicide, strange encounters, a melange of dreamworlds and nightmares and an overt explicit nature that this LGBT friendly auteur dabbles in. One of the only three filmmakers to make a first trip in the Comp section, The Hollywood Reporter’s Boyd van Hoeij who likens this to his 2009 film The King of Escape, he writes that the screenplay is loaded in “the power of suggestion and (possible) ellipses are key ingredients in getting audiences to think about the subterranean links between the characters and their relationships.” Comparatively, while Variety’s Owen Gleiberman appears vexed by unempathetic nature of the film, our jury was pleased with their first 8:30 a.m screening and mostly gave the film scores of 3 stars and above.

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