David Cronenberg expects Cannes critics to walk away from screening of his film

David Cronenberg is about to rock Cannes with Future Crimes. A film in which Viggo Mortensen embodies a contemporary artist who transforms surgical acts into artistic performances in a futuristic world. “Surgery is the new sex”, declares the character of Kristen Stewart in the trailer for the film, bathed in a gloomy atmosphere of which only the filmmaker has the secret, while Léa Seydoux is also part of the cast.

For David Cronenberg, it’s very simple: the public could be thinned out from the first minutes as “some scenes are very hard”.

“I’m sure people will walk out of the room within the first five minutes of the film. I’m sure. Some who have seen the film have said they think the last twenty minutes will be very tough and people will leave. One guy said he almost had a panic attack,” he told Deadline.

“Revolted, but not outraged”

“And I said, ‘Well, that would be okay.’ But I don’t think that will be the general reaction. I expect departures, in Cannes, and it’s very special, ”continued David Cronenberg, who was widely booed in 1996 with Crash, a film featuring people who are sexually aroused by car accidents. But for the director, revulsion is not synonymous with rejection and there is no pimpernel regarding the reception of Future Crimes.

“I’m not nervous, I can’t wait, because when you make a film you want people to react to it. I don’t think we will have the experience of Crash. Let them be as outraged as with Crash, I do not think so. They might be repelled to the point of wanting to leave, but not outraged. But I don’t know what will happen,” he continued.

Future Crimes hits theaters on May 25.