Cannes Film Fest 2023
Competition
Brazilian director Karim Aïnouz’s richly textured historical drama, aptly titled Firebrand, his first film in English, portrays Henry VIII’s sixth and final wife, Catherine Parr, as she attempts to avoid execution.
The screenplay by Henrietta Ashworth and Jessica Ashworth, based on Elizabeth Fremantle’s well-received 2013 novel Queen’s Gambit, aims to unfold as a taut historical thriller, but it suffers from some bland sections and a confused and improbable ending.
Despite being steeped in the atmospheric gloom of a country enveloped by plague and under tyrannical rule, the film reflects a contemporary, modernist attitude.
The tale provides strong lead roles for Oscar winner Alicia Vikander, in her best performance since Ex Machina, and a frighteningly committed rendition by Oscar nominee Jude Law as the ailing monarch.
The word ‘firebrand’ has dual meaning. a champion of radical change as well as a piece of burning wood.
While there have been several movies about Henry VIII, depicting him as a misogynist, monastery dissolver, impetuously dangerous man, Parr has remained a more obscure figure, sort of is a footnote in the period’s history.
Thus, in its good moments, Firebrand is a revisionist, corrective period drama about a progressive woman, eager to bring Protestantism, consorting with heretics, scheming with political players that are not always reliable.
Karim Aïnouz: Regular Festival Presence
A major talent, Karim Aïnouz, 56, was born to a Brazilian mother and an Algerian father, working as director, screenwriter and visual artist.
Aïnouz’s feature debut, Madame Sata, premiered at the 2002 Cannes Fest in the Un Certain Regard section.
His following films, O Céu de Suely (Love for Sale), and Viajo porque preciso, volto porque te amo (I Travel Because I Have to, I Come Back Because I Love You), co-directed with Marcelo Gomes, premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2006 and 2009.
In 2011, O Abismo Prateado (Silver Cliff) was presented in the Directors’ Fortnight Cannes and won Best Director at the Rio de Janeiro Film Festival.
In television, Aïnouz directed Alice, a 13 episode series for HBO Latin America. His short films and installations have been shown at The Whitney Museum of American Art, the São Paulo Biennial, and other veues.
