Cannes regular Javier Bardem led a toast at the Palais on Saturday, drawing a seven-minute ovation as The Beloved premiered in competition.
A beaming Bardem walked up and down the line of the film’s cast, hugging each one individually. He also enthusiastically waved to the crowd gathered on the balcony. At one point, he gave festival director Thierry Frémaux an affectionate bear hug.
In “The Beloved,” directed by Rodrigo Sologoen, Oscar-nominated for his short film “Mother,” Bardem plays a legendary director who offers his estranged daughter (Victoria Luengo) a role in his latest film in the name of helping her stalled acting career. But working together on set brought them closer together than they had in years, but it also reopened old wounds.
Melina Matthews, Marina Foyth and Malena Villa also appear in the film, which was shot last year on the island of Fuerteventura, with Bardem and Luengo filming their first scenes without ever having met, as a way to convey the background of the two, who had not been in touch for a long time.
“The Beloved” is Bardem’s sixth film to be submitted to Cannes, and his fourth in competition, following Asghar Farhadi’s “Everyone Knows,” Sean Penn’s “The Last Face,” and Alejandro González Iñárritu’s “Beautiful,” which won him the Palme Award for Best Actor in 2010. Other films Bardem starred in at the festival include Woody Allen’s “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” and “Vicky Cristina Barcelona.” The Coen Brothers’ No Country for Old Men premiered at the festival two years after Bardem served on the jury under Emir Kusturica.
In a recent Variety cover story, Bardem claimed to have been in “many realities” of the festival.
“I’ve been on the jury and I’ve been able to win this amazing award, which for me is one of the most important awards in the world. At the same time, I’ve worked on films where people are killed and stoned,” he said, referring to the widely criticized 2016 title “The Last Face,” about a humanitarian.
