Movies That Got Boos, Cheers, Walkouts, From ‘Taxi Driver’ to ‘Neon Demon’
Everett Collection/IFC Films
A man being bludgeoned to death by a fire extinguisher in the Gaspar Noe’s 2002 Irreversible.
Two children being murdered by a sniper.
An un-simulated oral sex scene (to complete ejaculation in close-up) between Chloe Sevigny and Vincent Gallo in he 2003 The Brown Bunny.
Nicole Kidman literally standing above and peeing on Zac Efron’s jellyfish sting–in real time–in The Paperboy.
All of these movie scenes share something in common: They led to boos and walkouts from critics and audience members at the Cannes Film Festival.
Getting booed at Cannes has almost become sort of a ritual, a right of passage for many of the best filmmakers in the world, from Martin Scorsese to David Lynch, Sofia Coppola, Terrence Malick, Oliver Assayas and David Cronenberg.
Then, there are likes of Lars von Trier and Gaspar Noé, two filmmakers who court controversy and boos whenever they show a new film.
Even films that have won Cannes’ prestigious Palme d’Or are not immune to audience jeers (see “The Tree of Life,” “Wild at Heart” and more below).
Here are the some of the most controversial films in the festival’s history.
Sea of Trees (2015)
Photo : Everett Collection
Gus Van Sant’s “Sea of Trees” was perhaps the biggest flop of the 2015 Cannes Film Festival.
Van Sant is a Palme d’Or winner and had Matthew McConaughey as his lead, following the actor’s Oscar victory for “Dallas Buyers Club.”
McConaughey stars as an American man who travels to Aokigahara, aka the “Japanese suicide forest,” to end his life, only to meet a Japanese man (Ken Watanabe) who’s there to do the same thing.
I Was There:
The film was greeted with a chorus of boos.
McConaunghey stood up for the film at its press conference: “I’m happy to be here. I’m happy to be invited. I’m happy that the film got in. It was a great experience for me. I liked the experience of making it, and I’m glad we got the opportunity to introduce it to the world.”
Sea of Trees (2015): Cannes Film Fest–Controversial Films–Boos, Walk-Outs, Divisive Response–What Was Gus Van Sant Thinking????
Movies That Got Boos, Cheers, Walkouts, From ‘Taxi Driver’ to ‘Neon Demon’
A man being bludgeoned to death by a fire extinguisher in the Gaspar Noe’s 2002 Irreversible.
Two children being murdered by a sniper.
An un-simulated oral sex scene (to complete ejaculation in close-up) between Chloe Sevigny and Vincent Gallo in he 2003 The Brown Bunny.
Nicole Kidman literally standing above and peeing on Zac Efron’s jellyfish sting–in real time–in The Paperboy.
All of these movie scenes share something in common: They led to boos and walkouts from critics and audience members at the Cannes Film Festival.
Getting booed at Cannes has almost become sort of a ritual, a right of passage for many of the best filmmakers in the world, from Martin Scorsese to David Lynch, Sofia Coppola, Terrence Malick, Oliver Assayas and David Cronenberg.
Then, there are likes of Lars von Trier and Gaspar Noé, two filmmakers who court controversy and boos whenever they show a new film.
Even films that have won Cannes’ prestigious Palme d’Or are not immune to audience jeers (see “The Tree of Life,” “Wild at Heart” and more below).
Here are the some of the most controversial films in the festival’s history.
Sea of Trees (2015)
Gus Van Sant’s “Sea of Trees” was perhaps the biggest flop of the 2015 Cannes Film Festival.
Van Sant is a Palme d’Or winner and had Matthew McConaughey as his lead, following the actor’s Oscar victory for “Dallas Buyers Club.”
McConaughey stars as an American man who travels to Aokigahara, aka the “Japanese suicide forest,” to end his life, only to meet a Japanese man (Ken Watanabe) who’s there to do the same thing.
I Was There:
The film was greeted with a chorus of boos.
McConaunghey stood up for the film at its press conference: “I’m happy to be here. I’m happy to be invited. I’m happy that the film got in. It was a great experience for me. I liked the experience of making it, and I’m glad we got the opportunity to introduce it to the world.”