Cannes film festival 2023: Stars and highlights

With its picturesque location on the French Riviera and its long, storied history, Cannes remains Europe's most prestigious film festival. This year's edition, which started on Tuesday evening and will run until May 27th, is the 76th — again features plenty of prominent attendees.

The festival opened with the film "Jeanne du Barry," starring Johnny Depp as King Louis XV. In the film, the king falls for a young woman from a working-class background and makes her his latest mistress.

The female lead is played by French actress Maïwenn, who also wrote the screenplay and directed the movie.

Cannes is Depp's first cinematic appearance since the high-profile lawsuit between him and his ex-wife Amber Heard. While some critics billed the film as a "comeback" for Depp, others were critical of the fact that it got the coveted opening spot at Cannes.

"Jeanne du Barry" is screening out of competition at Cannes.

Last adventure for Indiana Jones?

Other prominent films making their world premiere out of compeition for the Palme d'Or include the latest installment of the Indiana Jones franchise, "Indiana Jones and the Wheel of Destiny." Martin Scorsese's three-and-a-half-hour "Killers of the Flower Moon," a western crime drama revolving around murders on a Native American reservation in the 1920s, will also debut. 

Now 80 years old, Harrison Ford plunges into his last adventure in the role of archaeologist Henry Walton — aka Indiana Jones. The highly anticipated film follows the legendary trilogy released between 1981 and 1989, and the 2008 film that divided critics but brought in more than $800 million (€734 million) at the global box office.

Scorsese, meanwhile, directs a star-studded cast in "Killers of the Flower Moon" it's the sixth time the director has worked with Leonardo DiCaprio and the 10th time he's cast Robert De Niro. Also on board is recent Oscar winner Brendan Fraser, who took home the best actor award for his leading role in "The Whale" earlier this year.

Plenty of Hollywood stars are appearing in competition films. Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore star in Todd Haynes' romantic drama "May December," and Scarlett Johansson appears in Wes Anderson's science fiction film, "Asteroid City." Also in competition is German actress Sandra Hüller ("Toni Erdmann"), who stars in Jonathan Glazer's Holocaust drama, "The Zone of Interest."

Of the 21 entries in competition, only six came from women directors. Still, that's a new record for the number of female directors represented at Cannes.

Among them is French-Senegalese director Ramata-Toulaye Sy, competing with her feature debut, "Banel & Adama." The film features a cast of non-professional actors performing in Pulaar, a language spoken in the Senegalese River valley area, where the film was shot.

Toilets in Tokyo

German director Wim Wenders has a film in competition at Cannes for the 10th time. The 1984 Cannes winner will present his film "Perfect Days," which tells the story of a toilet cleaner in Tokyo. 

Another work by Wenders, the 3D documentary "Anselm," about the German painter Anselm Kiefer, will also celebrate its world premiere in Cannes.

The film "Goodbye Julia" by director Mohamed Kordofani will be the first film from Sudan to premiere at Cannes. The movie tells the story of Mona, who lives in northern Sudan and is plagued by guilt after covering up a murder. To ease her guilt, she takes in a South Sudanese widow, Julia, and her son Daniel.

The plot leads up to the geopolitical conflict between North and South Sudan that is still to come in the film. The movie is part of the section "Un certain regard," which presents films with innovative styles and stories.

This article was originally written in German.