Renoir
At Cannes’ 2022 edition, Chie Hayakawa’s Plan 75 won a Special Mention for the Caméra d’Or, which honours outstanding first features at the festival. This year, the Japanese director presents her sophomore film in the main competition.
It is the 1980s. Fuki is 11 years old when her father is in the hospital, unofficially diagnosed with cancer. Clinging to every shred of hope, he browses medical articles about experimental treatments in the United States and leaves sticky notes in them for his doctors. Meanwhile, Fuki’s mother has already prepared their funeral clothes in her closet. Caught in the middle, the young girl longs to escape reality and flees into a world of magic tricks and fantasy. She is desperate for human connection, to the point of putting herself in danger in her search for it.
Chie Hayakawa’s optimistic confidence in her audience’s intuition greatly elevated her previous film, but it may leave some viewers behind this time, as she lets her images speak for themselves without shouting to be heard. The director’s soft focus on human intimacy and her defiant refusal to paint it in anything other than gleaming light correspond to the impressionist brushstrokes of a Renoir, echoing the title. There is a reckless abandon in Fuki’s behaviour, contrasted by the unflinchingly gossamer way it is portrayed – yet at the same time, this fearless dedication to the good in people is an act of defiance in itself.
Renoir is a quiet and tender exploration of the shape-shifting nature of grief, and a child’s bottomless repertoire of ways to navigate it. The film’s feathery subtlety may attract few viewers outside the arthouse crowd, but Hayakawa’s work will surely touch the hearts of those it reaches.
Selina Sondermann
Renoir does not have a release date yet.
Read more reviews from our Cannes Film Festival coverage here.
For further information about the event visit the Cannes Film Festival website here.
Watch the trailer for Renoir here:
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