Cannes Film Festival Taking Aim At Critics In Proposed Shakeup

All year long, movie studios have been griping privately and publicly griping about movie critics, their impact on Rotten Tomatoes scores, and resulting box office disappointment that follows when — shocker — audiences decide to not see poorly reviewed movies. With big money on the line, especially when it comes to blockbusters, studios are already thinking about trying to curb when critics see movies, and when they post their reviews. But the “Rotten Tomatoes” effect is a bit of #fakenews. “Flatliners” — which didn’t screen for critics at all — still flopped last week. Meanwhile,  “mother!” — which critics couldn’t stop talking about — still fared pretty dismally at the box office. In short, audiences will see what they want to see.

Which brings us to the Cannes Film Festival, the most prestigious and sometimes pretentious movie event in the world, which is currently going through its own crisis when it comes to its relationship with critics. Historically on the Croisette, press screenings take place during the day, with the red carpet premieres/public screenings occurring in the evening. This means that a film can ride into its premiere with fantastic buzz, or if the reviews are disastrous, a pall can be cast over its red carpet rollout. Now, Cannes honcho Thierry Fremaux is looking to take away that so-called power that critics wield in Cannes.

“We are living in a new world. The press used to have a screening 24 hours before the public screening because they needed time to write their articles and then for it to be published. Now we are living in 2017, when everything is instantaneous,” he told Screen Daily. “The atmosphere of the press screening can be awful, everybody knows that, and it’s journalists who complain most about that. So I prefer to have the gala screening with the audience – and that audience can also be very tough – and the press screening [at the same time] and then to compare the two, so it’s a pure world premiere.”

It’s an idea that’s being embraced by some, including producer Florence Gastaud (“Redoubtable“), who sees that the stakes have become far too high for a movie that screens at Cannes.

“Over the years, the morning press screening at Cannes has progressively gained more and more importance and what comes out of it has an enormous influence on the fate of film… but its disproportionate to what it should really be,” she told the trade, in a followup piece. “Cannes shouldn’t simply be a loudspeaker for the film critics. The festival also has a jury and a public and their reactions should also count for something. With the press screenings going first, it’s as if the press has the exclusivity on passing judgement on the films.”

Interestingly, it’s PR companies who don’t necessarily want to see things change too much, and find the most value in the critical response — in fact, they feel that at the end of the day, it’s the only one that matters. Even more, you can’t protect a film or director who has made a bad movie forever.

“I would prefer things to stay as they are,”Jonathan Rutter of Premier said. “Clients and filmmakers are always keen to know reactions as soon as possible.”

“….[its] the press whose opinions are most important – trade and broadsheet critics – tend to be the ones who won’t or don’t offer up an opinion as they emerge,” he added, pushing back against the idea that reactions in the contemporary climate are given much consideration or thought.

“It’s not much fun being around despondent filmmakers, but the truth will come out sooner or later. The reverse of that is that knowing before the red carpet how critical reaction is can lift spirits and make filmmakers feel much less nervous about the whole red carpet experience,” Rutter shared.

At the of the day, many see a move toward the Berlin Film Festivals’s arrangement — with press screenings early, but reviews embargoed until the start of the public screening — as the compromise.

“I don’t have the solution but I’m for maintaining the same timetable of morning press screenings and evening world premieres but with reviews and social media reactions embargoed until after world premieres,” Claudia Tomassini said.

Ultimately, the perception of a film can be wildly distorted from both the press and public screenings at Cannes. Journalists on the Croisette have been known to quickly dismiss, hoot or whistle at pictures (frankly, it’s the behavior that should be targeted, rather than the reviews, if you ask me) which then tends to snowball opinion on films. Meanwhile, the public can be swept up by being in same cinema as auteurs and A-list stars leading to preposterous and often exaggerated ovations.

By its very select nature Cannes has created a bit of a beast, but a move to give some balance to the (over)heated reactions that come out of the south of France each spring is a step in the right direction.