The Most Awaited Film in Cannes 2025

Ah, Cannes... That glittering mirage on the French Riviera where champagne flows, critics lose sleep, stars lose weight, and sunglasses are worn indoors with unearned conviction. The shiniest red carpet is being unfurled, as next week the 78th Cannes Film Festival prepares to dazzle cinephiles and industry elites. This year's edition leans into discovery, with fewer aging auteurs trotting out their “final visions”, and more room for emerging voices to make their mark on the global stage. While the competition may lack heavyweight names vying for the Palme d’Or, there are still several intriguing titles that promise to bring personality to the Croisette. Here are ten films we’re most curious- and cautiously hopeful- about.

1) Alpha

The queen of body horror is back to make you squirm. After scoring the Palme d’Or with Titane (aka “the one where a woman has sex with a car”), Julia Ducournau returns with Alpha. Her visceral and boundary- pushing style made her a Cannes icon overnight, Ducournau is expected to deliver another jolt of provocative cinema. The big question is whether she’s evolving as a storyteller, moving beyond shock for shock’s sake without repeating her formula. Expect the usual mix of blood, beauty, and bodily transformation—alongside the inevitable midnight walkouts.

2) Sentimental Value

Place your bets folks! Without having seen a single film so far, I’d say this is the has the most chances to take the Palme home this year. Director Joachim Trier, writer Eskil Vogt, and actress Renate Reinsve—aka the team behind The Worst Person in the World—return for another Nordic gut-punch with Sentimental Value, which sounds like another bittersweet cocktail of joy, regret, and modern ennui. The previous film struck such a universal chord that it became an instant generational touchstone, so expectations are sky-high.

This time, Trier reportedly dives even deeper into memory and emotional inheritance, exploring the ways love lingers, mutates, or disappears entirely. In other words: yes, you will laugh, but you’ll likely see at least one person sobbing in the Palais toilets afterward.

3) The Phoenician Scheme

Wes is back, again. Like clockwork. It’s hardly a surprise to see Wes Anderson in Cannes, with his unstoppable production rhythm delivering at least one film per year. It’s almost comforting at this point— every spring, a fresh batch of symmetrical frames, diorama sets, and dry whimsy. Adorned by his usual stock company of players, this time led by Benicio Del Toro, The Phoenician Scheme could be a return to form for the pastel coloured filmmaker, since he’s swapped out anthology-style format for a single linear narrative, something he hasn’t done since 2018. Will it be groundbreaking? Of course not. But in a festival lineup often defined by black & white, three-hour-long despair, Anderson might be our one shot at fun. Small mercies.

4) Splitsville

Here’s one to really look out for: a dark romantic comedy from a rising American indie director, Splitsville may deliver both laughs and heartbreak. This is the second feature from Michael Angelo Covino, whose debut, The Climb, was a modest miracle of indie filmmaking—funny, melancholic, and stylish, charming Cannes with its deft mix of bromance and emotional chaos. With Splitsville, Covino shifts focus to the wreckage of a romantic relationship, and it might just solidify him as more than a one-hit indie wonder. If he sticks the landing, this could be one of the most relatable—and rewatchable—films of the festival.

5) Eddington

Ari Aster reunites with Joaquin Phoenix after the gargantuan flop that was Beau Is Afraid. This time, I’m the one who’s afraid—afraid that his new political pandemic satire will be a cringe-inducing, two-and-a-half-hour tour de force. Aster’s past work has polarized audiences, baffled critics, and likely made Phoenix question his life choices. Eddington promises another ambitious swing: a surreal, dystopian fever dream about misinformation, fear, and societal collapse. In other words, classic Aster—just with face masks.

6) New Wave

Richard Linklater tackles the French New Wave in, well, New Wave. Sweet, nostalgic, and inevitably filtered through an American lens, this homage could either capture the rebellious energy of the '60s or feel like a souvenir shop version of Godard. Will the French embrace the tribute or dust off the guillotine? Either way, watching him try to channel Jean-Paul Belmondo through a Texan drawl is a must watch.

7) Die My Love

Lynne Ramsay doesn’t make “nice” films. She makes bruising, brutal, unforgettable ones. Die My Love, based on Ariana Harwicz’s novel, is set to be another emotional grenade—an unflinching portrait of a woman slipping into madness, rage, and motherhood’s darker side. There will be raw emotions. There will be walkouts. There will be critics writing tortured essays about “the female psyche”. There might even be a Palme. But one thing’s certain: Ramsay won’t pull her punches.

8) The Mastermind

A Vietnam War-era heist movie... directed by Kelly Reichardt? Yes, that Kelly Reichardt—the minimalist queen of slow cinema, better known for spare, quiet character studies like Wendy and Lucy and First Cow than for shootouts and subterfuge. But that’s what makes The Mastermind such a wild card. If anyone can smuggle introspection into a genre film, it’s Reichardt.

9) Eleanor The Great

Actors turning directors usually means one of two things: ego trip or passion project. And in either case, they’re almost always bad. But Scarlett Johansson’s directorial debut leans toward the latter, and she’s betting big on 95-year-old June Squibb in the lead role. This could be the indie gem that sneaks up on everyone, or the kind of film people politely clap for before rushing to the bar to forget what they just watched.

10) The Disappearance of Joseph Mengele

Kirill Serebrennikov never plays it safe. The controversial Russian auteur follows the postwar trail of one of history’s most notorious figures in what’s likely to be a highly stylized, morally slippery, and deeply provocative film. Whether it’s brilliant or a tone-deaf disaster, it’s bound to cause a stir. And Cannes, famously, loves a scandal.