Sorry We Missed You, Bitterness of Liberalism

Elton John and the team of Rocketman ©YesICannes.com

The Official Competition saw the return of Pedro Almodovar with Dolor Y Gloria and of Ken Loach with Sorry We Missed You. The English singer Elton John came on La Croisette for the biopic Rocketman, Dexter Fletcher’s portrait film (out of competition).

Sir Elton John ©YesICannes.com

Standing ovation for Sir Elton John

Elton John (72) was present on Thursday night at the Festival de Cannes, for the screening of his biopic Rocketman that brings his life to the big screen. After the world premiere of the film, in which the actor Taron Egerton interprets the musician in his rise, his moments of glory and the hardships of his career, the icon of pop with 300 million albums sold, ennobled in 1998 for his contribution to the music, was very moved by the reception of the public of the festival which gave him a long standing ovation.

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Sorry We Missed You, suffering of a hard-working family

Ricky (Kris Hitchen) and Abby (Debbie Honeywood) are living in Newcastle with their two children, Seb (Rhys Stone) and Liza Jane (Katie Proctor). The family from the working class tries to improve their daily life by planning to buy a house. For that, both parents are working hard: Abby is dedicated to seniors at home after selling his car for Ricky to buy a van and work as a self-employed delivery driver for PDF, a transport company.

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Traditional kenloachian dramaturgy …

The family resembles all proletarian families, with rather well-worn clichés: the father is subject to a villain boss of franchise, the mother is available at any time for the elderly, and, refusing all conflicts under the family roof, demonstrates understanding and empathy when the exhausted father loses his temper. The girl is well-behaved and helps her dad, while the eldest is “difficult”, fighting at school, pilfering and rebelling against paternal authority… The parents have to face all the hassles of everyday life, little facilitated by the cruel rudeness of the increasingly technological and cruel world of a humiliating capitalism governing the liberal economy.

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The economy takes precedence over the human

The film is very human and extremely well played, on a scenario by Paul Laverty, in a stage well set at each scene by a Ken Loach virtuoso of the camera, the whole without frills. But everyone shares the reality described by Sorry We Missed You, everyone is more or less facing the draconian performance dictature issued by the new gurus of the economy, the cost killers and their statistics. How to avoid family dispersion and regain personal unity while the economy takes precedence over the human and the miseries divide our era and push people to the edge? Ken Loach’s cinema is here to question us. But do we go to the cinema to see the reflection of our human condition in front of the dismay nesteld in the heart of everyday life or rather to escape it for a moment?…

The Festival is on YesICannes.com: yesicannes.com/category/festival-de-cannes