Cate Blanchett and Guy Maddin join forces to take on the sorry state of global politics

In Rumours, the new uproarious comedy from Winnipeg clown posse, Guy Maddin, Galen Johnson and Evan Johnson, G7 world leaders, including a thirst-trap Canadian Prime Minister played by Roy Dupuis (like Trudeau in a soap opera) and Cate Blanchett's ravenous German head-of-state, gather for a summit in the woods. They find themselves distracted with their own bizarro hang-ups and hook-ups, before getting lost during a zombie apocalypse. And when they finally come up with a statement, it's the same confused word salad that politicians tend to throw out in the world at these sorts of things — as if they achieved something.

The film is a typical madman parody from Maddin and company — their most palatable yet — criticizing politicians who use a whole lot of words to say nothing about the state of the world. The question is, does the film, or the filmmakers themselves, have anything else to say? 

Not really according to Blanchett. "It's not trying to be an important film with the message," she said at the Rumours press conference in Cannes. "It isn't?" Evan Johnson asked in response. He, together with Maddin and the other Johnson, recoiled in amusement before self-deprecatingly giving in to her assessment. "What she said!"

Just like the movie, and its bumbling characters meant to lead the free world, the filmmakers are much more comfortable making jokes, some politically tinged, rather than strong political statements. And for that they were awarded a chorus of laughs and huge applause at their glitzy red carpet premiere the night before at the Grand Théâtre Lumière. 

Maddin described the seed of his idea, watching world leaders and their spouses cozying up despite their ideologies at these G7 meet and greets. "They're just as friendly with each other, even though one might eventually declare a war against another and commit atrocities … It just struck us as such a strange disconnect with what really is going on in the world. It just seemed like a perfect blank canvas. Their minds are blank canvases, for all sorts of mischief."

"You end up loving them, added Evan, "but you shouldn't because they probably deserve to be in jail for war crimes or something."

Rumours starts off relentlessly hilarious, leaning on a string of wonderful barbs and brilliantly comic performances that are perfectly calibrated against each other; including Blanchett and Dupuis, the latter amplifying Trudeau's sultry vibes. British actor Charles Dance is also a standout, playing the United States President as a leader so old he could have been there to colonize America in the first place. He consistently nods off mid-banter with the gathered leaders from the UK, Japan, France and Italy. The comedy ranges from incredibly slick and cutting to giddily juvenile with ancient bog zombies rising from the dead to perform circle jerks.

The press conference also had its fits of laughter, as when Blanchett described signing on to the project because of her affection for Maddin's films like My Winnipeg. "As soon as I knew that Guy had heard of me, I wanted to get on the phone and I'd already made a decision," she said. "It's a little bit like a first date. You kind of know whether you're going to creatively sleep together or not."

If Rumours drags in sections, it's precisely because the comic premise can only go so far when the movie's focus on hollowness yields a lack of any real incisive political commentary. The most effectively disquieting sequence takes place when Dupuis's Maxime is surrounded by the bog zombies, and he gives them an apology amounting to a land acknowledgement before bonking them on the head with a shovel to escape. 

"In Australia and in Canada, there's all these apologies to the Aboriginal First Nations groups that are often virtue signaling at best," says Maddin, unpacking that moment. "But it's just saying enough to get away from them."

"Canadian politicians do disingenuous apologies frequently," Johnson adds.

Maddin and Johnson had much less to say, or — like their characters — said a whole lot of nothing, when a film critic from Egypt asked a question. The journalist celebrated actor Charles Dance for his advocacy on behalf of the people of Gaza, a population whose bombardment by the Israeli Defense Forces has led to a death toll that has now surpassed 35,000 according to the UN.

"To be able to do a political satire you need to be free to express your opinion without being afraid of [being] cancelled," said the Egyptian film critic, Hosam Fahmy. He acknowledged the imposed silence on the conflict, and then he asked the satirists if they intended on breaking it.

Evan digressed by talking about Bring Me The Head of Tim Horton?, their previous comedy following the behind-the-scenes documentary crew following the production of an Afghan war movie. "We were critiquing a film that was being made about the war," he said. "We were very political in it because we felt that the film wasn't sufficiently anti-war.... That's the type of politics I think we're most comfortable with. We're not cowards or anything. But we also don't feel necessarily like our interventions will be that helpful unless we're comfortable or we feel like we're articulating something well. We don't want to put people off our message or our politics."

Maddin followed Evan's lead, discussing the Tim Horton movie and how it explored the way death can never be adequately represented on film. 

"I guess, the short answer is maybe not," says Maddin, going back to the question of breaking the silence. "But it doesn't mean I'm heartless. I'm being a bit careful right now, obviously...."

"It's a great question," Maddin later added. "I'm sorry to be personally inadequate in my response."

Blanchett returned to the subject later, when discussing why the laughter is necessary, because thinking too deeply about the state of the world would just make you go mad.

"You can't switch off because the catastrophic nature of the situation," she said. "The confluence of AI, the challenges with what we've done with anthropogenic climate change and the systemic inequality, and fiscally and socially, it's just a big tangled, globby mess. You disconnect. You feel disempowered."

Blanchett, who has openly spoken out against the casualties in Gaza, perhaps said even more the following evening on the red carpet for The Apprentice, a Canadian co-production about Donald Trump. As one X user pointed out, Blanchett was wearing a black and white gown with green lining, which worked against the red carpet, to form the colours of the Palestinian flag.

The 2024 Cannes Film Festival runs from May 14-25.