Cannes Film Festival 2025 reviews: our film critics' verdict
What will be the next Anora? It's that simple. That's the question on everyone's lips in Cannes. Anora, this year's Oscar champion, started life as last year's Cannes winner, and so the movie world, ever attuned to the value of formula (see Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning, also premiering here), has decided Cannes will set the awards season agenda this time too. And it's not just Anora, of course. Big trophy contenders such as Emilia Pérez and The Substance also premiered at last year's Cannes. Thus the giddy attentions of everyone including buyers, agents, distributors and critics will be focused on the buzzy titles that emerge over the next fortnight as instant audience favourites.
• All our Cannes coverage: Times
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Daily Mail
35 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Like father, like son! Cristiano Ronaldo, 40, and son Cristiano Jr, 14, show off their matching ripped physiques as they cause social media stir
Cristiano Ronaldo and his son Cristiano Jr proudly showed off their matching ripped physiques as they posed together for a photo. Ronaldo sported a bare-bodied look alongside his son, who will turn 15 next week, and shared the picture on Instagram to his 657 million followers. The post, accompanied by the caption 'Tal pai tal filho', which translates as 'like father, like son' has already been liked over three million times. Clad in red shorts, Ronaldo tensed for the camera, revealing he remains shredded even at the age of 40, while his son, wearing blue shorts, followed suit. An aspiring footballer, Cristiano Jr is keen to follow in the footsteps of his father, who recently broke down in tears after winning the Nations League with Portugal. There was more success in the Ronaldo household when Cristiano Jr was capped by Portugal's U-15s for the first time, wearing the No 7 shirt made famous by his dad. Ronaldo said he was 'very proud' of his eldest son after he made his debut during the 4-1 win over Croatia in the Vlatko Markovic International Tournament. The talented 14-year-old was cheered on by his grandmother Dolores Aveiro, Ronaldo's mother, and was also reportedly watched by scouts from Manchester United and several other elite European clubs, including Tottenham. Five-time Ballon d'Or winner Ronaldo said on Instagram: 'Congratulations on your debut for Portugal, son. Very proud of you.' Cristiano Jr later scored twice for Portugal in the final of the tournament and celebrated just like his dad, wheeling off to perform the iconic leap and 'siu' shout. Ronaldo has made no secret of his desire to play on the same pitch as his son one day, but he also stressed he would not pressure him. 'I would like it, I would like it,' said Ronaldo. 'It's not something that keeps me awake at night but we'll see. It's more in his hands than mine. 'The years are starting to go by and one day I'll have to let it go. There will come a time when it is no longer possible. Not only physically but also psychologically.'
Telegraph
41 minutes ago
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Battle of the breakfast spreads – how an Algerian rival to Nutella exposed France's insecurities
El Mordjene, France's most controversial spread, is easy enough to come by in London. I find a jar in a shop by Fulham Broadway. 'It's very popular, and here it is very good price,' says the man who sells it to me, who declines to give a name to the newspaper but is happy to take £8.99 for a jar. 'El Mordjene and Dubai chocolate, both very popular in the last six months.' Why, I ask. He shrugs, with the phlegmatic air of a man who has seen enough grocery trends come and go to have given up wondering how this one in particular might have come about. When I get home I spread the El Mordjene on a cracker. It has a light gloopy texture and a sweet, hazelnutty, moreish flavour, as if it were Nutella's pale, silken cousin. I instantly have another. My wife tries it and does the same. 'Like Nutella but more sophisticated,' she pronounces. This free and easy access to El Mordjene is a privilege. Because while plenty of North African shops in London stock the spread, in France the spread has become rarer than baked beans at breakfast. Across the Channel, El Mordjene has become a political football, the subject of a bitter trade row, a social media flashpoint and a jumping-off point for an angry discussion about the relationship between Algeria and its former colonial ruler. 'El Mordjene is a show of pride for Algerians,' says Rachida Lamri, founder of Culturama, an Algerian cultural organisation in the UK. 'Algerians are known to be fond of their flags, now this is like the new flag: El Mordjene spread. We take it to our parties, take it to our friends, we feed it to our kids, make everyone taste it. It is like a joke against France. It says 'we are here, we exist, we're going to sell our products, this is our identity, and we're going to do it despite you'.' El Mordjene was launched in Algeria in 2021 by the Algerian firm Cebon. It is a mix of sugar, vegetable fat, hazelnuts, skimmed milk powder, whey, emulsifiers (such as soy lecithin) and vanilla flavoring. It quickly became popular in the domestic market. Influencers on social media touted Mordjene's superiority to Nutella, the children's breakfast behemoth made by the Italian multinational, Ferrero. Ferrero also make Ferrero Rocher and Kinder Bueno, the latter of whose smooth interior El Mordjene was said to resemble. French-African shops in France began to stock the spread, too; word of the delicious new spread quickly spread. The trouble began last September, when two shipments of El Mordjene were stopped at French customs. Initially, one of the reasons given was that the Algerian spread appeared to 'infringe' Nutella's trademarks. A couple of days later, however, the French ministry of agriculture confirmed that El Mordjene was banned within the EU because Algeria was not one of the countries permitted to export dairy products to the union. The skimmed milk powder in El Mordjene meant it was interdit. The authorities added that investigation was 'currently under way' to work out how the tasty paste crossed the Mediterranean in the first place. Prices rocketed to up to 30 euros per jar. Copycats sprung up, made in Turkey; French recipe writers described recipes for making your own at home. 'Clearly, [the French authorities] were looking for a loophole,' Amine Ouzlifi, a Cebon spokesman, told The New Yorker recently. 'They considered a bunch of options and finally settled on dairy products as the most viable.' He added that it was suspicious French authorities had only decided to enforce the rule once the spread became popular, but that he would not unnecessarily 'open the gates of Hell' by contesting the ban directly. Algerian influencers and food industry professionals took umbrage, arguing that this was classic sour grapes from their old antagonists. 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The Guardian
42 minutes ago
- The Guardian
My unexpected Pride icon: the diva women of fighting video games inspired me
Growing up, fighting video games such as Tekken and Street Fighter were a core part of bonding during summer holidays for my brothers and I. For me, beat-em-ups were less about nurturing any masculine impulses toward strength and destruction, and more about the lore of the fighting game and its varied fighting styles, which played like a dance on the TV screen. That, and the ever-expanding rosters of sexy, glamorous femme fatales. There is a joke I have often heard that you know a young boy may be of the lavender persuasion if he only picks female characters in beat-em-up fighting video games – the parents might think it's because he fancies them, but really it's a form of diva worship. That was certainly true for me. As a fan of the Japanese beat-em-up fighting series Tekken, I have had a lifelong fascination with two characters: Nina Williams and her sister, Anna. Nina debuted in the very first Tekken game in 1994. A complex, ice cold, blond bombshell assassin from Northern Ireland, Nina is distinct for her skin-tight purple outfits and knee-high boots, with a fighting style which blends aikido and koppojutsu. While the Tekken community believe her early designs appeared to be derived from Sharon Stone's performance in Basic Instinct, later iterations of the character drew from a wider pool of femme fatales including Kill Bill's Beatrix Kiddo (in Tekken 7, Nina wears a destroyed wedding gown). Why did Nina unlock a kind of queer longing in me? Certainly there's the adoration of femininity that was consistent for me as a child with a precocious sense of my sexuality, but there was also something in the precision and elegance of her movements. Where other Tekken characters relied on brutish punches and head-butts, female characters such as Nina delighted me with their slaps, jabs and rhythmic, pirouetting gracefulness. As a young gay kid who was often teased and bullied for a preference to hop, skip, jump and prance around like a ballet dancer, I drew confidence from Nina's own assuredness. Over the course of the series, Nina Williams enjoyed an intense, campy rivalry with her younger, arguably more glamorous sister Anna, which entailed stolen dresses and heels, dramatic slaps, snatched bikini tops, and one murdered fiance. High camp, classic drama. But Anna clearly longs for love and acceptance from her sister despite Nina's hostile, unfeeling disposition – something which I think spoke to me as a queer boy wanting the same in a world I felt didn't want me. When Tekken 8 was released last year, Anna Williams was left off the roster, prompting backlash. When she was finally released in an update, redesigned with an asymmetrical bob with red highlights and a bazooka nicknamed 'Lucky Tom', there was much celebration particularly from queer fans. Mother is back! But Tekken isn't especially sentient about its appeal to queer audiences (despite the inclusion of a genderless character, Leo Kliesen, in the sixth game). In a video discussing Anna's popularity, series game designer Michael Murray expressed surprise that 'Anna is really popular among LGBTQ+ players', while executive producer Katsuhiro Harada remarked that 'Anna is particularly popular among lesbians'. Much of this is because of Anna's personality in the series – histrionic, flirtatious and sensual. In an interaction with an older male character she says, 'well hello you silver fox, looking for a good time?' I'm planning to steal that line to set up my next Grindr encounter.
