After announcing its line-up, the Cannes Film Festival added more than two dozen new titles to the pack, right? Among them was “Don Juan,” a new Serge Bozon-directed musical romantic comedy starring Virginie Efira and Tahar Rahim. Co-starring Alain Chamfort, the film seems to put a twist on the “Don Juan” lothario character. In this film, “Don Juan” is no longer the man who seduces all women. Instead, he’s a man obsessed with a single woman: the one who abandoned him. The big subversion of it all? A man is left at the altar by his would-be bride and then sees her everywhere after that (Efira plays multiple roles).
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Here’s the official synopsis:
Jilted on his wedding day, Laurent, a stage actor playing the role of the famous seducer Don Juan, cannot help but see his ex-fiancée in every woman he meets. In an attempt to mend his broken heart and ego, he tries to seduce them all, but none are receptive to his elaborate (and musical) advances. Meanwhile, at the theater, the leading lady quits, and the production brings in Laurent’s ex-fiancée as the replacement.
A Belgian actress, you know Efira from Paul Verhoeven‘s outrageous lesbian nun drama, “Benedetta,” which premiered last year at the Cannes. A French Algerian actor, you likely know Rahim from his breakout role in the 2009 award-winning French movie “A Prophet” by Jacques Audiard, plus appearances in films by Fatih Akın, Kevin McDonald, Lou Ye, Asghar Farhadi, Lone Scherfig, and more (he also has a role in Ridley Scott‘s upcoming “Napoleon” film). Bozon is known for the movies “Tip Top” and 2017’s “Madame Hyde” starring Isabelle Huppert.
The film is due in French cinemas on May 23, and maybe we’ll see it Stateside later this year or next year once a distributor comes on board. Either way, watch the new French-language trailer below to get a taste of what to expect when it premieres out of competition at Cannes.
, Virginie Efira ('Benedetta') feature in the new musical romantic comedy, "Don Juan."){kind=link}