A Cannes veteran, Claire Denis returns to the Croisette’s official competition with an adaptation of Denis Johnson’s 1986 novel The Stars at Noon, which follows a (would-be) female journalist that is stuck in Nicaragua during the state of emergency decreed by the Sandinista government in the eighties. Far from being a straightforward adaptation of its source material, Denis’ film brings Johnson’s story into the present (coincidentally or not, Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega has recently been reelected in Nicaragua) by pulling up several tricks in terms of scriptwriting and scenography: from the get-go, we see people wearing masks (more often than not worn on the chins, rather than the faces of the characters) and we hear about mobile phones that have been lost, or that should be lost – together with an array of objects (passports, press cards) that should, in theory, shield the white protagonists from harm, but that only make their lives even worse. And worse and worse they will get over the course of the film’s two hours and fifteen minutes.

The plot begins in medias res – already in the first few minutes, we witness a joyless sex scene consumed between the protagonist and a paramilitary officer – and is centered on Trish (Margaret Qualley), a young woman who comes to Nicaragua in order to document various human rights abuses, but who seems to have embedded herself too deeply with certain factions of the local power, ending up stuck in a country where her mountains of local currency are mostly useless, which she indiscriminately hands out in handfuls to pay for cab rides and shots of rum. Desperate to get her hands on US dollars in order to be able to leave (but also because certain locals prefer to be paid or bribed in American cash), Trish turns to selling her body in the bar of the Intercontinental hotel. Everything starts going downhill after she sleeps with Daniel (Joe Alwyn), a British businessman on a mission to do some ecowashing in the name of an oil company. Soon enough, the two become fugitives, pursued by the costarican mob and the CIA alike, on an adventure that just keeps on getting increasingly dangerous – and worse.

Although it’s somewhat similar to White Material (2009) and approaches some of the filmmaker’s thematic leitmotifs (sensuality, colonialism, political instability), The Stars at Noon, Denis’ second English-language film of the past few years, is indeed a particular entry in its director’s oeuvre. It has a plot that, at times, is borderline incomprehensible, and that’s not just because Trish is constructed like the sort of character that is wholly explosive and unpredictable, splendidly performed by Margaret Qualley as a storm of vital energy that adeptly switches between sensuousness and sarcasm, fear and defiance, often so with tears in her eyes. But, in terms of cinematography, there’s not much to see in this film that often looks like it’s been shot for TV, save for a couple of scenes – like the tenderly scene set in an empty disco to the slow music of Stuart Staples, reminiscent of the dance scene in 35 Rhums (2008). The film does seem to have had a rather cold, if not very cold reception on the Croisette so far, with few exceptions.

But even with all the feelings of confusion and, at to eat, even uselessness (and no, it’s not the good, existentialist kind) that it elicits, The Stars at Noon does have a quelque chose to it, a certain something that, despite all doubts, does keep you rooted in your seat for its 135-minute duration. Be it the gentle love scenes shared by Trish and Daniel, contrasting with the all-devouring brutality of the outer world, or the cameos (John C. Reilly, Benny Safdie), or even the mere, profane wish to simply see how and where the story will end up, no matter how low expectations may become. It’s an absolutely imperfect film, that’s for sure, maybe even a weak one, but that somehow manages to captivate.

Flavia Dima

Film critic & journalist. Collaborates with local and international outlets, programs a short film festival - BIEFF, does occasional moderating gigs and is working on a PhD thesis about home movies. At Films in Frame, she writes the monthly editorial - The State of Cinema and is the magazine's main festival reporter.