The Guardian’s Xan Brooks gives Ari Folman’s The Congress three out of five stars,
“Folman juggles live action with animation, earth-toned reality with candied fantasy, to spin the tale of Robin Wright (played, naturally, by Robin Wright), a Hollywood actor on the wrong side of 40, gazing glumly at her youthful self on the Princess Bride poster. Wright’s career is in the doldrums, but here comes salvation. The all-powerful “Miramount” studio wants to scan her, sample her and preserve her in aspic. The actor becomes a character, owned by the studio. As for Wright, she is free to step off the carousel and slide into obscurity. Her subsequent travels lead her to the animated zone of Abrahama, where her alter-ego has become the industry’s highest-grossing digital star.
Small wonder the Cannes organisers elected to shunt The Congress from the main competition to the more esoteric environs of the neighbouring Directors’ Fortnight selection. Folman’s film is a queer fish indeed; the director’s equivalent of that difficult second album. The plot grinds its gears and tries on different hats. At times the metaphysical musings lead it wildly off track and deep into the rough, though there is always enough ambition and eccentricity to keep the journey interesting.
Another film being talked about here is Stranger by the Lake. Here, Variety’s Boyd van Hoeij’s says,
“The secluded beach bordering an aqua-colored expanse of water is the stage for both death and desire in “Stranger by the Lake,” the career-best feature of Gallic scribe-helmer Alain Guiraudie (“The King of Escape”). Though it contains explicit scenes of gay sex, this is essentially an absorbing and intelligent exploration of queer desire spiced up with thriller elements after one of the studly nudists goes missing. Shot in lush, deceptively serene widescreen tableaux, this improbable cocktail makes for entrancing viewing, though the sight of ejaculating members will make it an extremely hard sell theatrically.
Set during summer, “Lake” opens at the titular cruising location — one it wisely never leaves, creating an almost Aristotelian unity of time, place and action — as the handsome Franck (Pierre Deladonchamps) parks his car, walks to the beach, strips and goes for a swim. While in the water, he notices Henri (Patrick D’Assumcao), a portly, middle-aged man, sitting far removed from the other, all-male and often naked sunbathers. Franck joins Henri for some small talk before abruptly interrupting their exchange to follow the muscular, mustachioed Michel (Christophe Paou) into the nearby woods.