The film industry’s fanciest party is popping the champagne corks once again, as the hottest stars and hippest directors gather on the south coast of France to showcase the movies that will set the standard for 2025 and beyond. The 78th annual Cannes Film Festival has a strong mix of blockbusters, big-name comebacks and actors stepping behind the camera: here is our guide to the films you should look out for. Plus, once the festival is over, you can check back to see where and when these movies will be available to watch in theaters and on streaming services.
Highest 2 Lowest
Denzel Washington and Spike Lee reunite for Highest 2 Lowest, a bold reimagining of Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 classic High and Low. The action is transposed to contemporary New York, which is not such a stretch considering that the original film was based on an American novel. Washington stars as a music mogul forced into a moral crisis when a kidnapper accidentally snatches not the rich man’s son, but his chauffeur’s child. With a stellar cast including Jeffrey Wright, Ice Spice, and A$AP Rocky, Highest 2 Lowest promises tension, ethical dilemmas, and one of Washington’s most intense performances. It is 36 years since the director premiered Do The Right Thing in Cannes, but this new film marks Washington’s long-awaited Cannes debut.
Sentimental Value
Joachim Trier and Renate Reinsve, the director and star of The Worst Person in the World, reunite with Sentimental Value, a poignant family drama. Reinsve and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas play two sisters navigating a fraught reunion with their estranged father (Stellan Skarsgård), a once-renowned filmmaker. As old wounds reopen during a collaborative creative project, Trier crafts another emotionally rich, Oslo-set story, which features Elle Fanning in a supporting role as an American actress. Trier’s ability to balance sharp dialogue with deep humanity makes this one of the festival’s most anticipated dramas, and it’s already generating Oscar buzz.
Eddington
Ari Aster, the horror visionary who brought us Hereditary and Midsommar, ventures into darkly comedic territory with a pandemic-era Western starring Joaquin Phoenix as a defiantly anti-lockdown New Mexico sheriff clashing with Pedro Pascal’s vote-chasing mayor. Set in May 2020, Eddington explores societal fractures, conspiracy theories and social media’s distorting lens through Aster’s signature blend of satire and deep, visceral unease. Emma Stone, Austin Butler, and Micheal Ward round out the ensemble, while Darius Khondji’s cinematography promises a visually striking descent into chaos. After Beau Is Afraid divided audiences, Aster’s pivot into absurdist politics could cement his status as this generation’s most unpredictable auteur.
The Phoenician Scheme
A head-on tackling of the criticism that all Wes Anderson films are basically the same, The Phoenician Scheme sees him shift genres by delivering an espionage thriller: it might be brimming with his trademark whimsy but it’s also drenched in blood. Benicio del Toro stars as Zsa-Zsa Korda, an eccentric tycoon entangled in a dangerous global adventure with his daughter (Mia Threapleton), who is a nun. As usual Anderson recruits an impressive ensemble cast, which this time includes Michael Cera, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Riz Ahmed, Richard Ayoade, Jeffrey Wright, Benedict Cumberbatch, Hope Davis, Bryan Cranston and Willem Dafoe. Can Anderson’s signature style survive a film with greater geographical ambitions? Cannes audiences are about to find out.
Nouvelle Vague
Richard Linklater pays homage to the French New Wave with Nouvelle Vague, a meta-narrative about the making of Jean-Luc Godard’s 1960 touchstone, Breathless. Zoey Deutch stars as Jean Seberg, with Guillaume Marbeck as Godard and lesser-known actors playing Claude Chabrol, François Truffaut, and Agnès Varda, in a love letter to French cinema. Linklater, known for dialogue-driven films that bear the clear influence of continental cinema from the 1960s and 70s, takes a risk by making a movie himself that’s entirely in French and looks to ape Godard’s unique style. His passion for the project, however, certainly won’t be lacking.
The History of Sound
Oliver Hermanus’ The History of Sound is a sweeping queer romance starring Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor as First World War-era folklorists recording America’s voices and music. Adapted from Ben Shattuck’s short story, the film explores love, memory, and artistry against the backdrop of war. As a director, Hermanus has won acclaim at Cannes previously for Beauty, and now returns with a film that was announced five years ago: the two leads have become a lot more famous in the interim, with Mescal getting rave reviews at Cannes 2022 for Aftersun, and O’Connor set to be one of the stars of this year’s festival, since he’s also in Kelly Reichardt’s The Mastermind.
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
Amid all those precious arthouse masterpieces, Tom Cruise brings his multiplex muscle back to Cannes with Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, the franchise’s eighth and supposedly last chapter. Helmed by regular M:I director Christopher McQuarrie, the film promises jaw-dropping stunts that showcase Cruise’s trademark disregard for his own physical safety, despite him now being 62 years old. Hayley Atwell and Vanessa Kirby return, while Hannah Waddingham joins the ensemble as Ethan Hunt (Cruise) continues to battle the Entity, a rogue AI threatening global chaos. Will it deliver the goods? And will Cruise sprint up the Cannes red carpet?
Urchin
This year’s Cannes features several actors making their directorial debut. As well as Kristen Stewart and Scarlett Johansson’s first movies, there’s Urchin: having starred in the 2022 Palme d’Or winner Triangle of Sadness, Harris Dickinson now directs a gritty drama about homelessness in London. Frank Dillane stars as a drifter trapped in a cycle of addiction and let down by systemic neglect, with Dickinson stating that the movie’s themes include mental illness and institutional failure. As an actor he’s worked with Steve McQueen, Brit Marling, and Ruben Östlund: an amalgam of those three styles would be fascinating, but Urchin looks likely to be low-budget and downbeat.
Alpha
Julia Ducournau, the provocateur behind Titane, returns with Alpha, a 1980s-set drama about a young girl navigating the Aids epidemic. Starring Emma Mackey, Golshifteh Farahani, Finnegan Oldfield and Tahar Rahim, the film is being hyped as potentially Ducournau’s most polarising yet, which would be no small feat: Raw and Titane both provoked fainting fits and angry walkouts on the festival circuit, although Titane did then win the Palme d’Or at Cannes 2021. Expect the usual body horror underpinned by unflinching social commentary: Ducournau’s films aren’t for everyone, but if you make it to the end they linger in the mind after the credits roll.
Die, My Love
Lynne Ramsay (We Need to Talk About Kevin, You Were Never Really Here) directs Jennifer Lawrence in a harrowing psychological thriller about postpartum psychosis. Adapted from Ariana Harwicz’s novel, the film follows a woman unravelling in an isolated rural setting, with Robert Pattinson as her helpless husband: Ramsay’s ability to deal sensitively but uncompromisingly with harrowing source material, paired with what sounds like a courageous Lawrence performance, could make this a new career highlight for both women. With Sissy Spacek, Lakeith Stanfield and Nick Nolte in supporting roles, Die, My Love is poised to be one of Cannes 2025’s most talked-about entries.
Check out our guide below on where to watch the hottest Cannes 2025 movies, streaming in the United Kingdom!
