This is not the first year the second half of May – a holiday for fans of quality films. WITH 14 to 25 May everyone related to cinema – from critics to stars, – will enjoy screenings of the most important films of 2024 at the 77th Cannes International Film Festival. We invite literature connoisseurs to find out which films in the competition program were based on books.
For the main prize of Cannes – 22 films are competing for the Palme d’Or. Among them, as last year, there are four film adaptations:
Also adapted is the sisterhood drama September Speaks, featured on Un Certain Regard.
Name: “September Speaks”
Original source: Daisy Johnson’s book “Sisters”
Plot: Sisters with unusual names September and July have completely different characters. They are inseparable and understand each other better than anyone. After a conflict with her classmates, the tough and distrustful September is suspended from school. Soon the family leaves the city altogether. WITH At this point, July begins to notice that their former warm sisterly relationship is changing beyond recognition.
Director: Ariana Labed
Cast: Mia Taria, Rakhi Thakrar, Niamh Moriarty, Barry John Kinsella, Cal O’Driscoll, Shane Connellan
Name: “Oh Canada”
Original source: Russell Banks novel Foregone
Plot: The film centers on an unreliable narrator (and man) – Documentary director Leonard Fife. On the verge of death, he tells the story of his life and youth, his escape from conscription in Canada, and also about the families he changed, avoiding all responsibility for his own and other people’s lives.
Director: Paul Schroeder
Cast: Richard Gere, Uma Thurman, Michael Imperioli, Jacob Elordi, Christine Froseth, Victoria Hill, Aaron Roman Weiner, Ryan Woodle, Joshua Wills, Megan McKenzie, Jean Brassard
Name: “Limonov: The Ballad of Eddie”
Original source: biography novel by Emmanuel Carrère “Limonov”
Plot: What was the writer and politician Eduard Limonov like? Activist, rebel, revolutionary, secular dandy, homeless… In all his guises, he is already a historical figure. We will see through the eyes of the cinematic Limonov the noisy streets of Moscow, the skyscrapers of New York, the alleys of Paris and unfreedom in Siberia.
Director: Kirill Serebrennikov
Cast: Ben Whishaw, Victoria Miroshnichenko, Tomas Arana, Maria Mashkova, Sandrine Bonner, Louis-Dau de Lankese, Ivan Ivashkin, Corrado Invernizzi, Odin Land Byron, Victor Sole
Name: “Broken hearts”
Original source: Neville Thompson’s novel Jackie loves Johnser OK?
Plot: The French musical rom-com will tell a love story spanning two decades. A passionate teen crush ends abruptly when the guy goes to prison for 12 years. years. After this time, the heroes meet again.
Director: Gilles Lellouche
Cast: Adele Exarchopoulos, François Civil, Elodie Boucher, Raphaël Quenard, Vincent Lacoste, Benoit Poulvoord, Alain Chabat, Anthony Bajon, Jean-Pascal Zadi
Name: “Megalopolis”
Original source: Sallust’s work “O conspiracy of Catiline” and the history of Ancient Rome
Plot: An epic drama about how, after a global catastrophe, New York is restored into a utopian modern center of the world. However, this contradicts the vision of the corrupt mayor, who would rather leave the city in ruins than meet the progressive ideas of the architect.
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Cast: Adam Driver, Nathalie Emmanuel, Forest Whitaker, Jon Voight, Laurence Fishburne, Shia LaBeouf, Dustin Hoffman, Aubrey Plaza, James Remar, Talia Shire, Jason Schwartzman, Grace VanderWaal, Kathryn Hunter, Giancarlo Esposito, Chloe Fineman, D. B. Sweeney
And now for the bonus! We selected three films from the Cannes competition program, to which we selected books that corresponded with them. They complement each other well, so be sure to check out the following movie stories and our book recommendations:
See also which book adaptations shone at Cannes in 2023.
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