Cannes Film Festival 2011

Cannes contenders

 Celebrities and film critics flock to Cannes, France, every spring for the annual Cannes Film Festival, and this year a notorious American director will open the festival with his romantic comedy "Midnight in Paris". We review the 19 films -- and the stars -- from around the world competing for this 'year's top prize.
'La piel que habito'

 Title translation: "The Skin I Live In"

Country United Kingdom

Director: Pedro Almodovar

Cast: Antonio Banderas  Elena Anaya
 
Plot: A surgeon seeks revenge on men who raped his daughter.

'L'apollonide – Souvenirs de la maison close'

 Title translation: "House of Tolerance"

Country France

Director: Bertrand Bonello

Cast: Hafsia Herzi  Adele Haenel

Plot: The happenings in a Parisian brothel in the 20th century.

'Pater'

 Country France

Director: Alain Cavalier

Cast: Vincent London
 
Plot: Little is known about the story line of this film, except that it is likely in a self-reflective, documentary style.

'Hearat Shulayim'

 Title translation: "Footnote"

Country Israel

Director: Joseph Cedar

Cast: Lior Ashkenazi, Shlomo Bar-Aba

Plot: The rivalry between a father and son is explored. 

'Bir Zamanlar 'Anadolu'da'

 Title translation: "Once Upon a Time in Anatolia"

Country Turkey

Director: Nuri Bilge Ceylan

Cast: Muhammet Uzuner  Yilmaz Erdogan

Plot: The film follows a doctor living in Anatolia.

'Le Gamin au velo'

 Title translation: "Boy With a Bike"

Country Belgium

Director: Dardenne brothers

Cast: Cécile De France

Plot: After being abandoned, a young boy is left with an unfit child care provider.

'Le Havre' 

 Country Finland

Director: Aki Kaurismäki

Cast: André Wilms Kati Outinen

Plot: A shoe shiner tries to save an immigrant child.

'Hanezu No Tsuki'

 Title translation: "Moon of the Red Flower"

Country Japan

Director: Naomi Kawase

Cast: Tôta Komizu, Hako Ohshimo

Plot: Set in the Asuka period.

'Sleeping Beauty'

 Country Australia

Director: Julia Leigh
 
Cast: Emily Browning , Michael Dorman
 
Plot: An erotic fairy tale about a young college student drawn into a mysterious world.

'Polisse'

 Country France

Director: Maïwenn Le Besco

Cast:  Maïwenn Le Besco  Ricardo Scamarcio

Plot: A journalist covering crime falls for one of her sources.

'The Tree of Life'

 Country United States

Director: Terrence Malick

Cast: Brad Pitt  Sean Penn

Plot: Tells the science fiction tale of a young boy's life set in '50s Texas.

'La source des femmes'

 Title translation: "The Source"

Country France

Director: Radu Mihăileanu
Cast: Hafsia Herzi , Leïla Bekhti

Plot: The women of a small village threaten to withhold sexual intimacies in this battle of the sexes dramedy.

'Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai'

 Country Japan

Director: Takashi Miike

Cast: Ichikawa Ebizo  Eita

Plot: A 3-D reimagining of a 1963 film about an aging samurai who is on a mission to regain his family's honor.

'Habemus Papam'

 Title translation: "We Have a Pope"

Country Italy

Director: Nanni Moretti

Cast: Michael Piccoli  Nanni Moretti

Plot: Centers on the relationship between a newly elected pope and his therapist.

'We Need to Talk About Kevin'

 Country United Kingdom

Director: Lynne Ramsay
 
Cast: John C. Reilly  Tilda Swinton

Plot: The mother of a teenage boy deals with the aftermath of his high school shooting spree.

'Michael'

 Country Austria

Director: Michael Schleizner

Cast: Michael Fuith, David Rauchenberger

Plot: Follows the last five months of the lives of a 10-year-old boy and a 35-year-old man.

'This Must Be the Place

 Country Italy

Director: Paolo Sorrentino

Cast: Sean Penn  Eve Hewson  Frances McDormand

Plot: A retired rock star sets out on a mission to find his father's killer, an ex-Nazi.

Melancholia

 Country Denmark

Director: Lars von Trier

Cast: Kirsten Dunst  Keifer Sutherland
 
Plot: Two sisters struggle with their relationship before a potential demise.

'Drive

 Country United States

Director: Nicolas Winding Refn

Cast: Ryan Gosling  Christina Hendricks  Carey Mulligan
 
Plot: A stuntman must escape a contract on his life after a heist goes wrong.