Karlovy Vary 2024 Review: Political Satire RUMOURS Takes Surreal Turn

The Canadian director Guy Maddin, known for his avant-garde style, has directed Rumours, an absurdist ensemble political satire with broader audience appeal. Co-directed with Evan and Galen Johnson, and featuring a cast that includes Cate Blanchett and Alicia Vikander, the film is a wild romp through the absurdities of global politics taking bizarre detours.

Maddin, known for The Forbidden Room and The Saddest Music in the World, has established a niche with his distinctive mix of surrealism, silent film aesthetics, and dark humor. His collaboration with the Johnsons began to solidify with The Green Fog, an experimental film reimagining Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo through found footage. This creative synergy has now culminated in Rumours, a comedy that fuses their signature eccentricity with a more accessible storytelling.

Rumours follows the leaders of the G7 nations as they convene for a weekend retreat in the German town of Dankerode, Saxony, to draft a new manifesto for a better future. Cate Blanchett stars as Hilda Ortmann, a chancellor reminiscent of Angela Merkel, who dominates the discussions with her authoritative demeanor. Nikki Amuka-Bird plays the UK's workaholic prime minister, Cardosa Dewindt, while Denis Ménochet portrays France’s self-centered president, Sylvain Broulez.

Rolando Ravello takes on the role of the somewhat confused and submissive Italian PM, Antonio Lamorte. Charles Dance is the U.S. president, Edison Wolcott, a grandfatherly figure with a tendency to doze off. Takehiro Hira plays Japan’s premier, Tatsuro Iwesaki, who maintains a low profile but is frequently surprised by his colleagues. Roy Dupuis portrays the Canadian PM, Maxime Laplace, a flirtatious leader who ends up heartbroken and pouty, despite having a wife at home.

Maddin and the Johnsons depict the world’s political elite as fallibly human, portraying them as a group that has yet to figure out the world or its crises. The supposedly critical G7 summit unfolds as a parody of a corporate brainstorming session, where participants pretend to solve problems but are, in reality, completely clueless. The film satirizes the illusion of control and knowledge, highlighting the leaders' impostor syndrome.

As night falls, the leaders, now stripped of their aides and security, find themselves trudging through the forest in a failed teambuilding exercise. This setup allows Maddin and his co-directors to delve into themes of political impotence and human vulnerability, all wrapped in layers of absurdity and dark comedy.

The forest episode has the feel of a summer camp gone awry, but with adults who are supposed to be the world's elite. The directors navigate this setting, transitioning from a fling between the Canadian PM and the chancellor to the hallucinogenic appearance of a giant human brain in the forest. The nocturnal survival expedition evokes the atmosphere of The Night of the Living Dead.

As the bizarre predicament escalates, Rumours transitions from a political satire to an outlandish comedy of human incompetence. Maddin and the Johnsons increasingly blend surreal satire with juvenile humor and supernatural elements, making it difficult to distinguish between the actual plot and what seems like a hazy fever dream.

Stefan Ciupek’s cinematography (Gassed Up, Vampire Academy) employs a dreamlike quality, utilizing stark contrasts and eerie, almost otherworldly lighting to enhance the sense of disorientation, creating an atmosphere that oscillates between haunting and whimsical. Eventually, Rumours takes up the contours of a stoner comedy, despite the protagonists never ingesting psychotropic substances, leading them on a trippy, dystopian (mis)adventure.

Rumours is a cross between Ubu Roi and 28 Days Later on molly. It begins as a political satire but quickly veers into an absurdist narrative, placing a group of politicians in an apocalyptic scenario with masturbating zombie-like creatures and The Wicker Man vibe. This survivalist predicament of bumbling leaders fosters an atmosphere reminiscent of a buddy comedy. Maddin and the Johnsons eschew the low-hanging fruit of sharp, acerbic political satire, opting instead to embrace a juvenile, absurdist, and surreal approach, with a touch of genre-bending thrown in.

Elevation Pictures will distribute the film in Canada while Bleecker Street will handle U.S. release.