CANNES 2023 - remote notes

[Chris Knipp]

Cannes...


ZERO CLUB

CLUB ZERO (Jessica Haussner)
In the GUARDIAN Bradshaw finds "not much to chew on in this baffling non-satire" and gives this Competition film only two stars out of five. She avoids saying anything specific about her "obvious subjects," which are "body image, eating disorders and western overconsumption." The form is a girl's school where the students are "encouraged to live without food" and anorexia becomes a cult. Bradshaw thinks Haussner's work hasn't been helped by her switch to English-language from her chilly, elegant German. Leslie Felperin in HOLLYWOOD REPORTER calls it "uneven" satire. She notes the set design and cinematography are fine but the points are poorly defined, the inexperienced young actors are inadequately directed and the dialogue frequently unidiomatic.