Controversial (Hot Red) Movies at Cannes Fest
A man being bludgeoned to death by a fire extinguisher. Two children being murdered by a sniper. An un-simulated oral sex scene. Nicole Kidman peeing on Zac Efron’s jellyfish sting.
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 around, 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 on the Croisette.
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.
The Brown Bunny (2003)
Vincent Gallo’s experimental road movie The Brown Bunny is one of the most controversial films in Cannes Film Fest history. Gallo stars as a tormented motorcycle racer, haunted by the memories of his former lover (Chloë Sevigny) on a cross-country road trip.
An unsimulated oral sex scene between Sevingy and Gallo generated outrage and walkouts at Cannes.
The film’s tumultuous reception was then intensified by public dispute between Gallo and Roger Ebert after the film critic called the movie the worst film in the history of Cannes.
Some critics described it as “self-indulgent resurrection of “1970s road movie aesthetics” and the very “definition of navel-gazing cinema.”