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CANNES, FRANCE: Margaret Qualley saunters into the press conference at the Cannes Film Festival in the same way her Stars At Noon character, the wily Trish, wanders into a hotel bar in Central America; one step, two step, a knowing look in her eye. Her black slinky silk CHANEL shirt and pant combo only adds to the enigma.
Qualley has just given the performance of her young career – two journalists in the room even point out that the 27-year-old deserves a Best Actress Oscar for it – but it’s when she gives a giggly shout out to her dad in the front row, we’re reminded of how young she is. Young, incredibly beautiful and with the film world at her well-heeled feet.
I note this because her character in this film lives a life far beyond her years. Co-adapted from the 1986 novel by Denis Johnson and directed by renowned filmmaker – and French sensualist – Claire Denis (you will know her 1988 film Chocolat), Stars At Noon explores the hot and steamy relationship between freelance journalist Trish (Qualley) and brooding businessman Daniel (Joe Alwyn).
“Are you for sale?” Daniel asks Trish upon meeting her in the aforementioned hotel bar, his voice as deep as Chris Hemsworth’s.
“I’m press. Aren’t we all for sale?” Trish responds.
Five minutes and 50 euros later and the pair are rolling about in Daniel’s bed, and I really did wonder what Taylor Swift – Alwyn’s girlfriend – thought about all of this. It’s very steamy!
Fifteen minutes later – and another 50 euros in Trish’s pocket – we have more sex, this time in Trish’s motel on the derelict outskirts of whatever city this movie based in.
“Claire has this ability to create this ambience for you to feel so free and safe, because she’s looking at you with such love that you kind of feel OK to do anything,” says Qualley of the sex scenes. “I was listening to Claire and responding to Joe who is such a wonderful actor.”
“Claire gave us an amazing space where we could be together,” says Alwyn. “We were lucky we knew each other a bit [beforehand], so there was a familiarity.”
The book was set Nicaragua during the Sandinista revolution in 1984. The film version, however, is set in the present day in the middle of the COVID pandemic – perhaps this is Denis’ version of war? The exact locale in South America, however, remains deliberately vague.
“One thing that was really cool for me was the familiarly of Panama because my Dad oddly enough moved to Panama when I was 14,” says Qualley of the film’s shooting location, before spotting her dad in the front row. “Hi, Dad!” she giggles.
“So I’ve been visiting on and off for years and I’ve been to the hotel that Daniel is staying in,” she adds. “So it was nice to be accidentally prepping [for this role] for upwards of 10 years!”
When Trish spots Daniel taking a breakfast meeting with a businessman (Danny Ramirez), she politely informs him the man is indeed a Costa Rican police officer who is planning to arrest Daniel. Cue the lovers having to leave the country abruptly.
While nothing really happens in this film – the pair spend the majority of it on the run – we are spurred on by their blooming relationship. Every bad motel with a creaky bed, every side of the road ID check, only brings the characters closer together. Daniel has a wife at home, and Trish is free-spirited and with no passport and no ties to really anywhere. We know it’s unlikely that this love story won’t make it past the border but like every relationship where we know it’s no good for us, gosh, how we’ll stay til the end to see it through.
With its undercurrent of danger, this film is for the romantic thrill seeker. And if that’s not you, see it for Qualley’s exceptional performance.
“The first time I saw Margaret was here in Cannes in Quentin Tarantino’s movie [Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood] and the first glimpse of her I had was this young girl standing on an LA street and I thought [sigh], ‘There’s nobody else,’” says Denis of casting Qualley as Trish.
Qualley is brilliant.
