A French pearl from Taiwan in Cannes
Tsai Ming-Liang, Taiwanese director of the fetish movie The Wayward Cloud (El sabor de la sandía) and perhaps the most celebrated Malaysian born filmmaker in the world will this year present his new film, Visages (Faces), for competition.
“Face,” originally “Salome”, set in the Louvre’s royal apartments, around the Pyramid and in hidden sanctums, is a film within a film, about a Taiwanese director (Kang-sheng Lee) who is making a loopy adaptation of the lurid story of Salome (Ms. Casta), the stepdaughter of Herod who demands the head of John the Baptist (Mr. Léaud). Inspired by Truffaut, the cast also includes the Truffaut favorites Jeanne Moreau, Fanny Ardant and Nathalie Baye. Ms. Moreau was an early love of Truffaut’s, Ms. Ardant his last. In “Face” Ms. Ardant plays the part of a producer trying to get her madcap movie made; Ms. Moreau appears to her in a dream, a soothing muse.
Sounds very French Nouvelle Vague!
The movie will premiere on the 13 May at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
