As the palm trees of the Croisette sway to the rhythm of the spotlights, the 2025 Cannes Film Festival promises a rich, diverse, and deeply cinephile edition. Between major comebacks, creative tributes, and international revelations, here are the films you absolutely must see… already awarded, acclaimed, or poised to revolutionize theaters.
Leave one day
Amélie Bonnin's "Partir un jour" (Leaving One Day) opened this 78th edition with an unexpected score: an intimate musical comedy, driven by the impulse of returning to one's roots. We follow Cécile, a passionate cook, on the verge of opening her own gourmet restaurant. But when her father suffers a heart attack, she returns to her native village – a forced return, soon energized by an encounter with her childhood sweetheart. Memories flood back, as do doubts: old dreams, family roots, and repressed desires intertwine in a restrained staging, punctuated by exquisitely delicate musical numbers. A warm, bittersweet film that explores the paths we choose, or those we abandon. A touching work about regrets, reunions, and the silences that weigh as heavily as words. Currently in theaters.
Die, My Love
With Die, My Love, Lynne Ramsay delivers a wild and hypnotic inner portrait. In an isolated rural setting, a woman grapples with her contradictions: a desire for solitude and a need for belonging, a yearning for motherhood and a visceral rejection of the norm. The film explores the brutality of desire and the gentle terror of familial love. Driven by an intense trio—Jennifer Lawrence, Robert Pattinson, and Lakeith Stanfield—the narrative oscillates between intimate chaos and visceral strangeness. An incandescent portrait of a woman on the edge of the world, where every ordinary gesture becomes an emotional enigma. Coming soon to theaters.
Renoir
Directed by Chie Hayakawa, Renoir transports the viewer to Tokyo in 1987. We follow Fuki, an 11-year-old girl, as she grapples with her father's illness and her overworked mother's absence. A suspended summer unfolds for her, filled with solitude, strange rituals, and the stirrings of childhood. The film paints a portrait of a young girl with extraordinary sensitivity, who seeks to connect with the living, the dead, and even herself. Blending poetic realism and subtle mysticism, this Asian-European co-production is a contemplative gem. Release date: September 17, 2025.
The Stranger of the Great Arch
Stéphane Demoustier tackles one of the flagship projects of the Mitterrand presidency: the Grande Arche de la Défense. In 1983, the architectural competition surprisingly selected Johan Otto von Spreckelsen, a Danish architect unknown in France. The film recounts his arrival in Paris, his architectural ideals, and his confrontation with political realities and bureaucratic delays. Starring Claes Bang, the film oscillates between biopic and political thriller, revealing the tensions between vision and execution, and the price of grandeur. Coming soon to theaters.
New wave
This is the story of Godard shooting at breakneck speed… told in Godard's own style. Richard Linklater delivers a free-spirited, moving, and exuberant homage, where the legendary shoot becomes a pretext for immersing himself in the very spirit of the New Wave. The film plays with conventions, deconstructs scenes, and pays tribute to an era that changed cinema. A blend of metacinema and nonchalant elegance, it's a gem for lovers of the seventh art . Scheduled for release on October 8, 2025.
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
Tom Cruise makes a triumphant return to Cannes with this eighth installment of the Mission: Impossible saga, presented out of competition but hailed as a major world premiere. Always without a stunt double, always on the edge of the abyss, Cruise pushes the boundaries of action cinema. The film delivers a series of breathtaking scenes, stunning choreography, and intimate confrontations. At 62, the actor still embodies a certain idea of adventure cinema: physical and spectacular. A living legend in a hard-hitting film. Scheduled for release on May 21, 2025.
