Culture Interviews Cinema & Tv

“As a homosexual woman, I’ve felt oppressed by society’s violence”: Lola Quivoron and Julie Ledru on Rodeo

“As a homosexual woman, I’ve felt oppressed by society’s violence”: Lola Quivoron and Julie Ledru on Rodeo

Rodeo is the feature debut from French writer-director Lola Quivoron, which not only played in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes 2022 but picked up the Coup de Coeur prize. Her genre-defying film stars first-time actress and real-life biker Julie Ledru as Julia, a fierce and fearless woman passionate about “urban rodeos” who finds herself in a man’s world in the suburbs of Paris as she seeks to ingratiate herself in a gang of dirt bike riders. That Quivoron spent years seeking to understand this underground community – indeed, she already based her short Au Loin, Baltimore in the setting – is palpable on-screen, with her adventurous and bold take on a Western, infused with grease and the growling of engines.

The Upcoming sat down with the filmmaker and her star during Cannes to hear about the allure of the hyper-masculine motocross world, Quirvron’s relationship with Ledru and how the movie explores gender, class and identity. 

Sarah Bradbury

Rodeo is released in UK cinemas and on Curzon Home Cinema on 28th April 2023. Read our five-star review here.

Watch the trailer for Rodeo here:

More in Cinema & Tv

Miley Cyrus unveils visual album Something Beautiful, streaming on Disney+ this July

The editorial unit

Ryan Gosling goes interstellar in Project Hail Mary, the latest sci-fi epic from the team behind The Martian and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

The editorial unit

Trailer drops for Roofman, Derek Cianfrance’s stranger-than-fiction crime drama starring Channing Tatum and Kirsten Dunst

The editorial unit

Dave Franco and Alison Brie face a rural nightmare in Michael Shanks’s upcoming horror film

The editorial unit

Jurassic World: Rebirth

Guy Lambert

Olivia Rodrigo at BST Hyde Park

Katherine Parry

Squid Game season three

Christina Yang

The Bear season four

Christopher Connor

F1 the Movie

Mark Worgan