British woman behind violent, lesbian film that shocked Cannes
Female collaborators made this movie darker and better, says director, as it faces the UK censor
A CONTROVERSIAL film cowritten by a British playwright has been jeered in Cannes over shocking scenes including murder, cannibalism, and lesbian necrophilia – and is destined for British cinemas this summer.
The Neon Demon, which is yet to pass the British censors, saw critics stand up to boo and shout at the screen after its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival.
The film, directed by Nicolas Winding Refn and starring Elle Fanning, Christina Hendricks and Keanu Reeves, was co-written by Polly Stenham, the 29-year-old British playwright hailed as the next big talent of her generation.
She has previously spoken of how she was brought into the project as the director’s first co-writer to help Refn do “something different”, writing a horror film with female protagonists after he “got a lot of stick for doing films some people think are violently misogynistic”. The finished version of the film, which tells the story of a young model swallowed up by the dark world of fame, in fact features scenes so shocking in their violence against women that they drew comment from even the most hardened of critics. The Neon Demon is due out in Britain this July, but has not yet been submitted to the British Board of Film Classification for rating. Sources refused to be drawn on whether it would have to be edited for mainstream cinema audiences. But Refn’s previous films, including Drive and Only God Forgives, have each been awarded 18 certificates. Last year, the BBFC only refused to classify one unrelated film it believed would cause real harm. For The Neon Demon to be refused a certificate, it would have to show criminal activity or have material which risks real “harm to individuals or, through their behaviour, to society”. The Daily Telegraph’s film reviewer Robbie Collin, who awarded it five stars, called it “by far the most divisive film to have screened in competition at Cannes this year” in a crowded field of edgy art-house submissions. He added: “To reveal anything about their plans for Jesse [played by Elle Fanning] would only spoil the significant pleasures of swooning and retching your way through them your- self, though it’s worth highlighting that a prolonged sequence of lesbian necrophilia ticks off that elusive final box on this year’s on-screen depravity Cannes bingo card.”
Speaking at a Cannes press conference, Refn admitted the film’s darkest scenes had “kind of escalated”, from his original plans. Of the boos, he said: “F--- the establishment. Youth culture, take it or leave it but you can’t deny it.”
He told members of the press he owed much of the film to his female collaborators, adding: “If you work with women, you get better results.”
The Daily Telegraph understands Stenham worked on the first draft of the film, before leaving amicably to develop a play for the National Theatre. The script was taken on by Mary Laws, an American Yale Drama School graduate, and it “evolved” significantly.