Latest news with #LidiaYuknavitch
Daily Mail
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Kristen Stewart reveals the incredibly X-rated meaning behind her latest tattoo at the Cannes Film Festival launch of her new movie
Kristen Stewart has revealed the X-rated inspiration for one of her latest tattoos after unveiling her latest movie at the 78th Cannes Film Festival. The American actress took centre stage at the annual ceremony with her directorial debut The Chronology Of Water, a stirring drama based on American swimmer Lidia Yuknavitch's visceral memoir about surviving abuse as a child, on May 16. And she admits her latest tattoos - the word WHY on her bicep and MINE on her thigh - were heavily inspired by the film, with the latter referencing one of its most sexually provocative scenes. She told Vulture of its genesis: 'The coolest song in the movie is when she c**es on her hand, smells it, wipes it on her f**king bicep, and goes, 'I didn't know a girl body could do that. Shoot c**e." 'And then this song comes on and it goes, 'Mine, mine, mine, mine.' And it's just f**king mine.' From A-list scandals and red carpet mishaps to exclusive pictures and viral moments, subscribe to the DailyMail's new Showbiz newsletter to stay in the loop. she admits her latest tattoos - the word WHY on her bicep and MINE on her thigh - were heavily inspired by the film, with the latter referencing one of its most sexually provocative scenes A labour of love for Stewart, 35 - who refused to act again until she was able to finish it - The Chronology Of Water had been well received in Cannes, where it earned a standing ovation following an initial screening. And first time director Stewart says the positive response fully justifies its two hour, eighteen minute run-time - the inspiration for her cryptic WHY tattoo. 'I didn't need to make an hour and a half digestible experience so it would be less difficult for the consumer,' she explained. 'It's cool that at one point you go, 'Are we still doing this? Why?' I have 'Why' tattooed right here [her upper arm].' Variety has called her latest film "a stirring drama of abuse and salvation, told with poetic passion", while Indiewire critic David Ehrlich said "there isn't a single millisecond of this movie that doesn't bristle with the raw energy of an artist". 'I had just never read a book like that that is screaming out to be a movie, that needs to be moving, that needs to be a living thing,' Stewart told AFP following its May 16 launch. That Yuknavitch was "able to take really ugly things, process them, and put out something that you can live with, something that actually has joy" is awe-inspiring, she added. 'The reason I really wanted to make the movie is because I thought it was hilarious in such a giddy and excited way, like we were telling secrets. Stewart has numerous tattoos, but her latest were heavily inspired by her directorial debut 'I think the book is a total lifeboat,' said Stewart, who also wrote the screenplay. It certainly saved Yuknavitch and made her a cult writer, with her viral TED Talk The Beauty of Being a Misfit inspiring a spin-off book, The Misfit's Manifesto. 'Being a woman is a really violent experience," Stewart told AFP. 'Even if you don't have the sort of extreme experience that we depict in the film or that Lidia endured and came out of beautifully'. Stewart insisted there were no autobiographical parallels per se that drew her to the original book. 'I didn't have to do a bunch of research (for the film),' she explained. 'I'm a female body that's been walking around for 35 years. Look at the world that we live in. 'I don't have to have been abused by my dad to understand what it is like to be taken from, to have my voice stifled, and to not trust myself. It takes a lot of years (for that) to go. 'I think that this movie resonates with anyone who is open and bleeding, which is 50 percent of the population.' Stewart - who cast singer Nick Cave's son Earl as the swimmer's first husband and Sonic Youth rock band's Kim Gordon as a dominatrix - told reporters she was never really tempted to play Yuknavitch herself. Instead she cast British actor Imogen Poots, who she called "the best actress of our generation". 'She is so lush, so beautiful and she's so cracked herself open in this,' Stewart said. 'She has this big boob energy in the film - even though she is quite flat-chested - these big blue eyes and this long hair.' She described her movie's fever-dream energy as "a pink muscle that is throbbing" and that Poots was able to tap into, channelling Yuknavitch's ferocious but often chaotic battle to rebuild herself and find pleasure and happiness in her life. 'Pain and pleasure, they're so tied, there's a hairline fracture there,' Stewart told the Cannes Festival's video channel. Yuknavitch's book "sort of meditates on what art can do for you after people do things to your body - the violation and the thievery, the gouging out of desire. Which is a very female experience." Stewart said Yuknavitch discovered that the only way to take desire back was to "bespoke it... and repurpose the things that have been given to you in order for you to own them." She added: I'm not being dramatic, but as women we are walking secrets.'
Free Malaysia Today
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Free Malaysia Today
‘Being a woman is a violent experience,' says Kristen Stewart
US director, screenwriter and producer Kristen Stewart during a photocall for the film 'The Chronology of Water' at the Cannes Film Festival. (AFP pic) CANNES : 'I can't wait to make 10 more movies,' Kristen Stewart told AFP the morning after making what Rolling Stone called 'one hell of a directorial debut' at the Cannes film festival. Nor can film critics judging from the rave reviews of 'The Chronology of Water', her startling take on the American swimmer Lidia Yuknavitch's visceral memoir of surviving abuse as a child. All the producers who Stewart said passed on her script, saying its subject matter made it 'really unattractive' to audiences, must now be crying into their champagne. Variety called it 'a stirring drama of abuse and salvation, told with poetic passion', while Indiewire critic David Ehrlich said 'there isn't a single millisecond of this movie that doesn't bristle with the raw energy of an artist'. The fact that she has got such notices with what is normally a no-no subject in Hollywood – and with an avant-garde approach to the storytelling – is remarkable. 'I definitely don't consider myself a part of the entertainment industry,' said the 'Twilight' saga star, dressed head to toe in Chanel. And those looking for something light and frothy would do better to avoid her unflinching film. Stewart has long been obsessed with the story and with Yuknavitch's writing, and fought for years to make the movie her way. 'I had just never read a book like that that is screaming out to be a movie, that needs to be moving, that needs to be a living thing,' she told AFP. That Yuknavitch was 'able to take really ugly things, process them, and put out something that you can live with, something that actually has joy' is awe-inspiring, she added. 'Book is a total lifeboat' 'The reason I really wanted to make the movie is because I thought it was hilarious in such a giddy and excited way, like we were telling secrets. I think the book is a total lifeboat,' said Stewart, who also wrote the screenplay. It certainly saved Yuknavitch and made her a cult writer, with her viral TED Talk 'The Beauty of Being a Misfit' inspiring a spin-off book, 'The Misfit's Manifesto'. 'Being a woman is a really violent experience,' Stewart told AFP, 'even if you don't have the sort of extreme experience that we depict in the film or that Lidia endured and came out of beautifully'. Stewart insisted there were no autobiographical parallels per se that drew her to the original book. But 'I didn't have to do a bunch of research (for the film). I'm a female body that's been walking around for 35 years. Look at the world that we live in. 'I don't have to have been abused by my dad to understand what it is like to be taken from, to have my voice stifled, and to not trust myself. It takes a lot of years (for that) to go. 'I think that this movie resonates with anyone who is open and bleeding, which is 50 percent of the population.' Stewart – who cast singer Nick Cave's son Earl as the swimmer's first husband and Sonic Youth rock band's Kim Gordon as a dominatrix – told reporters she was never really tempted to play Yuknavitch herself. 'We are walking secrets' Instead she cast British actor Imogen Poots, who she called 'the best actress of our generation. She is so lush, so beautiful and she's so cracked herself open in this'. 'She has this big boob energy in the film – even though she is quite flat-chested – these big blue eyes and this long hair.' She described her movie's fever-dream energy as 'a pink muscle that is throbbing' and that Poots was able to tap into, channelling Yuknavitch's ferocious but often chaotic battle to rebuild herself and find pleasure and happiness in her life. 'Pain and pleasure, they're so tied, there's a hairline fracture there,' Stewart told the Cannes Festival's video channel. Yuknavitch's book 'sort of meditates on what art can do for you after people do things to your body – the violation and the thievery, the gouging out of desire. Which is a very female experience.' She said 'it is only the stories we tell ourselves that keep us alive', and that art and writing helped liberate Yuknavitch and find a skin she could live in. Stewart said Yuknavitch discovered that the only way to take desire back was to 'bespoke it… and repurpose the things that have been given to you in order for you to own them.' 'I'm not being dramatic, but as women we are walking secrets,' the actor said.
News Lens
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- News Lens
【2025坎城影展】一種注目《Eleanor the Great》、《The Chronology of Water》影評：史嘉蕾喬韓森、克莉絲汀史都華首度當導演的表現如何？
今年坎城影展「一種注目」單元，迎來史嘉蕾喬韓森以及克莉絲汀史都華——這兩名美國知名演員的導演作品。而實際在坎城影展看過片之後，我認為兩個導演都有一些問題可以修正，史嘉蕾喬韓森是「不夠」，克莉絲汀史都華則是「過度」。 今（2025）年坎城影展「一種注目」（Un certain regard）單元，迎來了三位知名演員首度執導筒的長片作品；分別是哈里斯迪金森的《Urchin》、史嘉蕾喬韓森的《Eleanor the Great》以及克莉絲汀史都華的《The Chronology of Water》。 其中，史嘉蕾喬韓森以及克莉絲汀史都華的作品交互觀看是有趣的，兩名美國女演員／導演，其電影敘事不約而同地書寫女性故事——史嘉蕾喬韓森嘗試以年過九十的遲暮老人，從一個「聽故事、説故事」的方法（有時候這兩者可能是對倒的）去探索猶太大屠殺的歷史記憶；克莉絲汀史都華則是改編美國作家Lidia Yuknavitch的同名自傳，講述女性從青春至成年，遭受暴力（無論是身體或是心理，且更多時候來自於父親）的深層記憶，並在最終將創傷導向了文學創作，找到和解可能。 先不論文本，史嘉蕾喬韓森、克莉絲汀史都華的導演美學風格，基本上走向了天秤兩端；前者沈穩踏實，後者躁動不安，而在風格的展示上，也皆與其自身作品的文本相互映襯。 首先，克莉絲汀史都華使盡全力將《The Chronology of Water》的視覺經驗撐至最大，每一顆鏡頭的時間並不做過多停留，或許應該說，是短的近乎不可思議，一場景、一場戲熱衷於塞進無數分鏡，使其敘事破碎式的片面化。 這樣做的意義在於，當你的作品——《The Chronology of Water》是講述女孩的現實／記憶、真實／虛構、現在／過去的所有狀態時，以來回跳躍的剪輯、打破時間線性組成的敘事就可能是有效的，那種無法輕易觸碰全貌，打碎過後的觀看，使得克莉絲汀史都華試圖表達的——屬於角色的流動、難以捉摸的曖昧，在他的導演風格與文本之中——皆與「水」的主題鏈結意象，也是交互成立的。 在這裡，你可以輕易地發現，克莉絲汀史都華對於自身電影的作者語彙，是如此自信且幾乎沒有遲疑，作為導演，在一開始他就找到並確認了自己的說故事方法——那是來自於高度風格化的剪輯，而後帶著觀眾一路狂飆。 但這麼做——讓影像不間斷破碎片面化的同時，所帶來的另一種效果幾乎是，觀眾喪失了對其影像的呼吸空間，在時長128分鐘的影像中，你任何一刻都無法休息，這是累人的，甚至有時候是稍稍有些惱人的。 多元觀點 等你解鎖 付費加入TNL+會員， 獨家評論分析、資訊圖表立刻看 149 元 / 月 1490 元 / 年 看更多
Malay Mail
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Malay Mail
‘Being a woman is a violent experience,' says Kristen Stewart after Cannes debut stuns critics
CANNES (France), May 21 — 'I can't wait to make 10 more movies,' Kristen Stewart told AFP the morning after making what Rolling Stone called 'one hell of a directorial debut' at the Cannes film festival. Nor can film critics judging from the rave reviews of The Chronology of Water, her startling take on the American swimmer Lidia Yuknavitch's visceral memoir of surviving abuse as a child. All the producers who Stewart said passed on her script, saying its subject matter made it 'really unattractive' to audiences, must now be crying into their champagne. Variety called it 'a stirring drama of abuse and salvation, told with poetic passion', while Indiewire critic David Ehrlich said 'there isn't a single millisecond of this movie that doesn't bristle with the raw energy of an artist'. The fact that she has got such notices with what is normally a no-no subject in Hollywood — and with an avant-garde approach to the storytelling — is remarkable. 'I definitely don't consider myself a part of the entertainment industry,' said the Twilight saga star, dressed head to toe in Chanel. And those looking for something light and frothy would do better to avoid her unflinching film. Stewart has long been obsessed with the story and with Yuknavitch's writing, and fought for years to make the movie her way. 'I had just never read a book like that that is screaming out to be a movie, that needs to be moving, that needs to be a living thing,' she told AFP. That Yuknavitch was 'able to take really ugly things, process them, and put out something that you can live with, something that actually has joy' is awe-inspiring, she added. 'Book is a total lifeboat' 'The reason I really wanted to make the movie is because I thought it was hilarious in such a giddy and excited way, like we were telling secrets. I think the book is a total lifeboat,' said Stewart, who also wrote the screenplay. It certainly saved Yuknavitch and made her a cult writer, with her viral TED Talk 'The Beauty of Being a Misfit' inspiring a spin-off book, The Misfit's Manifesto. 'Being a woman is a really violent experience,' Stewart told AFP, 'even if you don't have the sort of extreme experience that we depict in the film or that Lidia endured and came out of beautifully'. Stewart insisted there were no autobiographical parallels per se that drew her to the original book. But 'I didn't have to do a bunch of research (for the film). I'm a female body that's been walking around for 35 years. Look at the world that we live in. 'I don't have to have been abused by my dad to understand what it is like to be taken from, to have my voice stifled, and to not trust myself. It takes a lot of years (for that) to go. 'I think that this movie resonates with anyone who is open and bleeding, which is 50 per cent of the population.' Stewart — who cast singer Nick Cave's son Earl as the swimmer's first husband and Sonic Youth rock band's Kim Gordon as a dominatrix — told reporters she was never really tempted to play Yuknavitch herself. 'We are walking secrets' Instead she cast British actor Imogen Poots, who she called 'the best actress of our generation. She is so lush, so beautiful and she's so cracked herself open in this'. 'She has this big boob energy in the film — even though she is quite flat-chested — these big blue eyes and this long hair.' She described her movie's fever-dream energy as 'a pink muscle that is throbbing' and that Poots was able to tap into, channelling Yuknavitch's ferocious but often chaotic battle to rebuild herself and find pleasure and happiness in her life. 'Pain and pleasure, they're so tied, there's a hairline fracture there,' Stewart told the Cannes Festival's video channel. Yuknavitch's book 'sort of meditates on what art can do for you after people do things to your body — the violation and the thievery, the gouging out of desire. Which is a very female experience.' She said 'it is only the stories we tell ourselves that keep us alive', and that art and writing helped liberate Yuknavitch and find a skin she could live in. Stewart said Yuknavitch discovered that the only way to take desire back was to 'bespoke it... and repurpose the things that have been given to you in order for you to own them.' 'I'm not being dramatic, but as women we are walking secrets,' the actor said. — AFP
Geek Vibes Nation
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Vibes Nation
‘The Chronology Of Water' Review: Kristen Stewart Delivers A Wild, Unhinged, Fearless Directional Debut
It's not because you're great in front of the camera that you'll be equally superb behind it, too. More often than not, when a famous actor takes a stab at filmmaking, they play it too safe. This results in a timid and hold-back movie that hopefully is straightforward enough to attract the biggest audience. However, Kristen Stewart ( Love Lies Bleeding , Spencer ) is a stunning exception to that rule. With The Chronology of Water , she – and a formidable Imogen Poots – treat the audience to a dynamic, chaotic and compelling experience. The boldness and braveness of Stewart as a director and writer are apparent from the start. She decided to film on grainy 16mm and, together with co-writer Andy Mingo ( Romance , The Iconographer ), she turned the film's source material, the abuse memoir by Lidia Yuknavitch, into a striking script worth being adapted. While fiction and reality blend in the script, it doesn't matter how much we know about the actual Lidia. Even more so because for a lot of abused people, fantasy is the ultimate form of escapism, and for Lidia, it's no different. She created a self and reality that might not be everyone's reality. Throughout multiple chapters, you follow what Lidia's (Poots) story could have been, was and is. An accumulation of childhood abuse, broken relationships, drinking problems and professional failures would be a difficult watch watch in any feature, but in this work, it all hits you even harder. The extreme close-ups, the loud and energetic score, and the compelling but dry voiceovers result in compassionate, intense and absorbing storytelling. The visceral cinematography certainly matches Lidia's gut-wrenching story. While this feature certainly isn't immune to cliches, there are only a handful of predictable moments. Most of the scenes ooze the pain, rawness and secrets the swimmer and aspiring writer has carried with her throughout her entire life. Ever since she was a young woman, she had to suffer physical and mental abuse at the hand of her stern and ferocious father. The only times she could escape the violence were when he was harming her sister and when she dived into the swimming pool. During The Chronology of Water , it becomes clear that water means so much more to Lidia than it does to most people. It represents freedom, happiness and fulfilment. She sometimes also feels that escapism and transformative feeling in writing, especially during the later part of this film when her dream of becoming a writer might be on the horizon. However, it seems that in everything she does, the abuse and her troubled past are present. Thora Birch as Claudia and Imogen Poots as Lidia in 'The Chronology of Water' courtesy of WME Independent Despite being beaten up and raped by her dad, it's precisely that pain and violence that get Lidia off. This not only results in nonstop masturbation sessions (and secretively enjoying spanking by her swim coach) but also in a troubled view of what an honest, loving, and genuine relationship is. Frustrated that her boyfriend (Earl Cave) is not rough enough as he's too gentle and tender, she finds comfort in booze, coke and a cocky fuckboy. No matter how freely she feels herself in the water, once back on dry land, she's being locked up again in a cage of abuse, frustration, repression and self-destruction. Even when an artistic opportunity arrives, that could change her life, her toxic daddy issues come creeping around the corner. There's not a single frame in this feature in which you don't feel the messy and painful life Lidia has been living. Stewart takes you on a rollercoaster of different tones, emotions and kaleidoscopic colours in the most remarkable way. Equally impressive is Poot's immersive, intense and ecstatic performance. Like her director and the passionate writer and Olympic swimming hopeful she's portraying, Poots put their whole being into this work. Some scenes only consist of a handful of snippets or fast-paced edited shots, and during these moments, Poots has little time to show what her character is going through, but she does it impeccable every time. After watching her in Baltimore and All of You , it's great that even a bigger audience will finally see her immense talent. Poots make every scene come alive, whether with one piercing look, a subtle or not-so-subtle gesture or the fast swimming. So, despite the flaws that come with creating an indie feature as your directional debut, this is a heartfelt and intense story with strong direction and honest and committed on-screen performances. The Chronology of Water held its World Premiere in the Un Certain Regard section of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival. Director: Kristen Stewart Screenwriters: Kristen Stewart, Andy Mingo Rated: NR Runtime: 128m
