– CANNES 2026: Bertrand Mandico deconstructs, explodes and pays tribute to the mythology of cinema, following in the wake of a majestic Marion Cotillard playing a star in her twilight years
Marion Cotillard in Roma Elastica
“My arrogant and triumphant youth has vanished, I have a black hole in my heart.” This retort offered up in 1982 to a fellow actor whom the director specifies is “evil incarnate” on a nightmaresque and bloody American independent film set, perfectly encapsulates the off-camera reality of Eddie Mars, the charismatic and beat-up protagonist of Roma Elastica, Bertrand Mandico’s new and expansive artistic journey which was unveiled in a Midnight Screening in the 79th Cannes Film Festival. Because not only does “Eddie refuse to admit that she’s no longer what she once was” – a famous actress at the height of her career and a liberated femme fatale – she’s also secretly harbouring a growing tumour which poses an immediate threat to her life. But, in spite of it all, she chooses to hide her terror and honour the commitment she’s made to shoot a film in Rome.
Is what follows a hellish sojourn? A derisive dream? A criticism of showbusiness and the decadent circus which surrounds it? A punk-flavoured tribute to Pasolini, Fellini, Antonioni, Fulci, Bava, Zulawski, Carpenter, Pirandello and so many others? Or a surrealist meditation on life and death? Roma Elastica is all this and more, juxtaposing the Italian capital’s old stonework (as well as its underground areas and statues) with a garish modernity which goes “beyond bad taste”. The screenwriter in this film within a film (a futurist work – set in 2020 – about a mystical art rock star capable of bringing the skin on sculptures to life) claims he’s a medium, the local film industry middle-classes are paralysed by artificiality, a young quartet of production designers romp around unashamedly… Reality and imagination, Eros and Thanatos soon become indistinguishable, while the magnetic ribbon of Eddie’s life unwinds, and things start to hurtle downhill…
Carried by an exceptional Marion Cotillard, who’s brilliantly supported by Noémie Merlant (almost unrecognisable as the star’s make-up artist, friend and protector) and a troop of actors who are only too happy to play with extremes, as encouraged by Bertrand Mandico’s exaggerated style (a special mention should go to Milutin Dapcevic as a producer and Ornella Mutti as a TV presenter), Roma Elastica plays with wild contrasts and hallucinogenic metamorphoses to organically explore the border between visible and invisible worlds. The result is a mutating and incredibly strange work (which will either fascinate or bewilder viewers) where film is a kind of life insurance fuelled by creation and re-creation and a mirror in which youthful beauty isn’t immune to solitude, suffering (albeit masked) on account of decrepitude, or death, but where myths work primarily for the future.
Roma Elastica is a French-Italian co-production by Atelier de Production in league with Arte France Cinéma, Dugong Films, Redibis Film, Kinology (who are also steered world sales), Kobayashi Prod., Provence Studios, Enable Prod. and My Unity Production.
(Translated from French)
