A duo of octogenarian actors bowled Cannes over on Sunday as a devoted husband and his dying wife in a wrenching cinematic study of love at the bitter end by Palme d’Or winner Michael Haneke.

The Austrian director, who scooped the festival’s top award in 2009 for “The White Ribbon”, a study of malice in a German village on the eve of World War I, turns with his new work “Love” to the most intimate of bonds.

Haneke cast French icon Jean-Louis Trintignant, 81, and Emmanuelle Riva, 85, in the story of Georges and Anne, a couple of retired music teachers, whose rich and adoring relationship is cruelly tested when she suffers a stroke.

Set in the hushed rooms of the couple’s parquet-floored Parisian flat, the film charts Anne’s physical and mental decline, and the increasingly unbearable strain it puts on Georges, who pledges to care for her at home until the end.

“Once you reach a certain age, you necessarily have to face the suffering of the people you love,” Haneke told a press conference after the screening. “It’s part of nature. It raises the issue of how to manage the suffering of the people you love.”

Utterly believable in the role of Anne, Riva told of how she threw herself heart and soul into the part, sleeping in her dressing room at the studio where it was shot to remain immersed in her character.

“I had a very, very strong desire to play this part,” said the soft-spoken actress. “I had a kind of conviction that I could put myself in Anne’s shoes.

“I approached it with a very powerful passion, and nothing seemed too difficult,” she said. “I would run onto the set in the morning. And it was for me a great, great source of happiness.”

Riva was last in Cannes in 1959 — as the 30-something star of the French classic “Hiroshima Mon Amour”.

“After the age of 80, and especially for women, there are hardly any roles left in movie scripts,” she told AFP after the press conference. “But from time to time, something like this comes along — and then it’s a great gift. You don’t hesitate for a second.”

Her co-star Trintignant, a classic French film and stage actor whose breakthrough role was opposite Brigitte Bardot in the 1956 “And God… Created Woman,” also spoke warmly — and humorously — of shooting the film, his first in nearly 15 years.

“I have never worked with such a demanding director — and quite frankly I wouldn’t wish it on anyone!” he quipped, joking that in one scene even a pigeon was driven to exhaustion by the exacting Austrian.

“I am very proud to be in this film — but I won’t be making any more! I suffered a lot!” the actor, who was crowned best actor in Cannes for the 1969 Costa Gavras movie “Z”.

“It was very painful, but very beautiful,” he said.

In silence, save for the occasional bursts of piano music that recall their former, fuller life, Haneke’s sober camera chronicles the intimacy of Anne’s decline, the effort required of Georges to help his beloved stand, wash or eat.

Both actors said Haneke asked them to approach the harrowing story without sentimentality.

“Michael Haneke never wanted it to be sentimental or tear-jerking,” Trintignant said. “But she was shaken up — it would take her half an hour to recover from a scene,” he said, nuancing Riva’s upbeat account of the shoot.

Isabelle Huppert plays the couple’s daughter, who drops in occasionally from London to check on them, but remains a remote presence as they spiral together deeper into Anne’s sickness.

Wheelchair-bound, half-paralysed, the intelligent, vivacious Anne early on tells her husband she does not wish to live such an impaired life. But carry on they do, as far as George can take her.

Yet the director — best known internationally as the director of psychological thriller “Funny Games U.S.” with Tim Roth — makes clear this is not a film about the social challenges of caring for an ageing population.

“I don’t write films in order to make a point,” he said. “I had no desire to make a TV-style film about society and its problems.”

Article source: http://news.yahoo.com/palme-winners-love-bitter-end-bowls-over-cannes-165606854.html

“The Avengers” continues to muscle out everything else Hollywood throws at it, easily sinking naval rival “Battleship” and other new releases.

Article source: http://news.yahoo.com/iranian-director-farhadi-claims-eu-prize-cannes-172449621.html

Lady Gaga‘s Philippine concerts will go ahead as planned, organisers said Sunday, despite a series of protests from Christian groups and calls for the controversial singer to be banned.

Allan Florendo, assistant vice president of the sprawling SM Mall of Asia, whose arena will be the venue for the concerts Monday and Tuesday, said they were ready for the thousands of Gaga-fans and even any stray protesters.

“We’re very ready, security-wise. We have over 300 security personnel which is in addition and coordination with the (local) police. We have at least 100 bouncers in addition to the several ushers and porters,” he said.

The Asian leg of Lady Gaga’s tour has seen various protests, including in Indonesia where her June show has been denied a permit by police amid threats from Islamic hardliners.

Almost 500 Christian protesters gathered near the 20,000-seat Manila concert venue Sunday, holding lit candles under umbrellas to shield them from the rain.

“We are a peace-loving people, our objective is not to make any violence or destruction to get attention,” said Orlando Cutaran, head of the Christian Professionals Evangelism Fellowship.

“We don’t want to interfere in their business. We are just praying on the sides that the organisers will change their minds.

“We are just taking a stand against the blasphemous songs and videos of this Lady Gaga. We don’t want young people to be influenced by this.”

Lady Gaga, who arrived late Saturday, had remained in her hotel for the day.

The concert was originally scheduled for just one night but was extended to two because of overwhelming demand, said Edgar Tejerero, senior vice president of company running the arena.

The city government has already warned Lady Gaga to refrain from nudity, lewd conduct and blasphemy in the Philippines, and said inspectors will be at the venue to ensure she does not overstep the mark.

Article source: http://news.yahoo.com/lady-gaga-philippines-despite-rallies-174145637.html

“The Hunt”, a taut psychological thriller starring Danish heart-throb Mads Mikkelsen as a man falsely accused of molesting a child, emerged Sunday as a hot contender at Cannes.

With a controversial take on an intensely emotional issue, director Thomas Vinterberg returned to cinema’s top international showcase 14 years after scooping up the Grand Prix runner-up prize with “Festen” (The Celebration).

The new picture, which was enthusiastically applauded at preview screenings for critics ahead of its red-carpet premiere, presents Lucas, a divorced father of a teenage boy who is working at a creche.

A young girl, the daughter of Lucas’s best friend, develops a crush on him while in his care and when he gently explains the boundaries of their friendship, she begins to pout.

Later, she tells the creche director that she doesn’t like Lucas anymore and claims that she has seen his genitals — an accusation she later tries to retract but only after suspicion has spiralled out of control.

A witch-hunt ensues against Lucas, a hobby marksman, and as the mass hysteria takes hold, his life crumbles around him and he loses his job, his new lover, life-long friends and, potentially, access to his beloved son.

Only the son and a close old friend stand by him as the community descends into paranoia and other children, getting swept up in the frenzy, accuse Lucas of molesting them as well.

Mikkelsen, best known to international audiences for his turn as Le Chiffre in the 2006 James Bond picture “Casino Royale” and now starring in the Scandinavian blockbuster “A Royal Affair”, said the material required a delicate touch.

“We know for sure that way too many kids are being abused out there. We know that, we’re not questioning that,” he told reporters.

“But for us it was very much about when you love something as much as you can love a child, that love can turn into fear when something happens or might happen. And society… can implode with this fear.”

Vinterberg noted that he had dealt with the subject of adult survivors of child abuse in “Festen” and had now flipped the story to explore how fast a rumour can become fact due to now heightened sensitivity to the issue.

“I grew up in a hippie commune surrounded by genitals and it was all very pure, all very innocent. And things have changed, things have become colder and more fearful obviously and we’ve lost innocence, for good reasons, of course,” he said.

“I was here to tell that in ’98 (with ‘Festen’). Now I’m here to tell the antithesis.”

The director said the Internet had ratcheted up the power of rumours to a terrifying degree.

“Of course with these media platforms, (news) travels really incredibly fast and you can create a myth or a lie about a person very quickly,” he said.

“Most identities of today are built on these platforms. I find that fascinating and of course a little bit frightening as well.”

Vinterberg, who has also directed music videos for Blur and Metallica, written for Vienna’s renowned Burgtheater and was a founding member with Lars von Trier of the Dogme 95 no-frills film-making movement, denied he had a particularly bleak view of his society.

“I guess not only Denmark but in Scandinavia in general we have always been telling these dark tales,” he said.

“This is not an entire image of our country, this is a dark tale from our country, which is a shire of happy little hobbits, sometimes very stern hobbits, but quite happy people in general.”

Asked about the shattering final act to his drama, Vinterberg quipped: “Happy endings? We’re not used to that in Denmark.”

“The Hunt” is one of 22 films vying for the Palme d’Or top prize in Cannes, to be awarded on May 27.

Article source: http://news.yahoo.com/danish-hysteria-drama-hunt-blows-away-cannes-174751212.html

CANNES, France (AP) — It’s 43 years since Jean-Louis Trintignant was named the Cannes Film Festival‘s best actor for “Z,” and 14 years since the French performer all but gave up filmmaking to focus on the stage.

He was tempted back by Michael Haneke‘s Cannes entry “Amour” (“Love”), which looks unflinchingly at death through the story of an elderly Parisian couple.

It may win the 81-year-old actor another prize. Trintignant and 85-year-old Emmanuelle Riva bowled over the Cannes audience Sunday as a devoted couple coping with the wife’s worsening health. The Hollywood Reporter called it “magnificent in its simplicity and its relentless honesty.”

Trintignant — who first gained fame in 1956 opposite Brigitte Bardot in “… And God Created Woman” — said he’s been in more than 100 films, “but this was the first time I was pleased to see myself on screen.”

“It was a wonderful opportunity, but I won’t do it again,” he told reporters in Cannes. “It was painful, but it was beautiful at the same time.”

Haneke is a Cannes favorite who won the Palme d’Or in 2009 with “The White Ribbon,” a stark portrait of moral erosion in pre-World War I Germany.

The Austrian is a famously demanding director who creates controlled but often devastating portraits of individuals, families and communities riven by repression and violence.

“Amour” breaks new ground in its obvious compassion for its characters, alongside an unflinching portrait of the realities of old age.

“I’ve never met such a demanding director,” Trintignant said. “He knows exactly what he wants his film to look like. He knows the cinema through and through.

“It’s a very difficult task,” he said of acting in a Haneke film. “I don’t advise that you do it,” he added — at least partly joking.

Co-stars Riva and Isabelle Huppert — who plays the couple’s daughter — insisted that working with Haneke was a joy.

It’s the spectators who suffer, not the actors,” Huppert said.

Many of the film’s scenes are emotionally raw, but Trintignant said the trickiest sequence to film was one in which his character tries to trap a pigeon that has flown into the house.

“That was very painful, because Michael wanted to direct the pigeon — and he didn’t think the pigeon was very good,” Trintignant said.

“He made the pigeon do things again and again and I think there were two pigeons because one gave up.”

“Amour” is one of 22 films competing at the festival, which runs to May 27.

___

Jill Lawless can be reached at: http://Twitter.com/JillLawless

Article source: http://news.yahoo.com/jean-louis-trintignant-back-screen-amour-124913862.html

DETROIT (AP) — A Michigan prosecutor has charged three young men in the assault and carjacking of popular Detroit pastor and gospel singing icon Marvin Winans.

The office of Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy says 20-year-old Detroit residents Montoya Givens and Christopher Moorehead and 18-year-old Brian K. Young of Macomb County‘s Clinton Township are charged with carjacking, unarmed robbery and conspiracy.

The charges carry up to life in prison.

The prosecutor’s office says the three are expected to be arraigned Sunday.

Winans was attacked Wednesday afternoon while pumping gas at a Detroit gas station.

The 54-year-old sustained bruises and scrapes. His wallet, Rolex watch and 2012 Infiniti sport utility vehicle were taken. The SUV was recovered.

Winans is pastor of Perfecting Church. He delivered singer Whitney Houston’s eulogy in February.

Article source: http://news.yahoo.com/3-charged-carjacking-pastor-marvin-winans-161201466.html