{"id":77588,"date":"2023-05-25T12:15:15","date_gmt":"2023-05-25T12:15:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/?post_type=articles&p=233800"},"modified":"2023-05-25T12:21:28","modified_gmt":"2023-05-25T12:21:28","slug":"the-idol-cannes","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/the-idol-cannes\/","title":{"rendered":"Cannes Film Festival 2023: Lily-Rose Depp Is Extraordinary in a Series Coated in Sleaziness"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
CANNES, FRANCE – MAY 22: Lily-Rose Depp attends the “The Idol” red carpet during the 76th annual Cannes film festival at Palais des Festivals on May 22, 2023 in Cannes, France. (Photo by Stephane Cardinale – Corbis\/Corbis via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

CANNES, FRANCE: Within the first minute of Sam Levinson\u2019s controversial new series The Idol<\/em>,<\/a> Lily-Rose Depp<\/a> quiets any critic who dare utter the term “nepo baby.”<\/p>\n

\u201cGive me vulnerable,\u201d a photographer tells mono-monikered pop star Jocelyn (Depp) as she writhes on top of a coffee table in a barely-there red satin brunch-coat, cigarette in hand. \u201cGive me sad. Give me excited.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"lily-rose-depp-the-weeknd-the-idol-cannes\"
CANNES, FRANCE – MAY 22: Abel \u201cThe Weeknd\u201d Tesfaye, Lily-Rose Depp attend the “The Idol” red carpet during the 76th annual Cannes film festival at Palais des Festivals on May 22, 2023 in Cannes, France. (Photo by Stephane Cardinale – Corbis\/Corbis via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At this close crop, Depp\u2019s beautiful, seamless transitions between emotions \u2014 and thus her versatility as an actress \u2014 are realized entirely by her doe eyes. It\u2019s a prelude to the riveting performance you can expect from the 23-year-old in Euphoria<\/em><\/a>‘s Sam Levinson\u2019s\u00a0sordid tale of Hollywood\u2019s wild, lurid underbelly; the publicity machine, the exploitation, the hedonism, the sex, the sex, the sex.<\/p>\n

When a compromising picture of Jocelyn in a sex act leaks online, the team go into damage control. \u201cHow are 14-year-old girls going to buy tickets to the concert when she\u2019s frosted like a Pop Tart?\u201d remarks a Live Nation rep (played by Eli Roth). When Jocelyn \u2014 who has been recovering from a psychotic break post the death of her mother \u2014 finds out about the picture, she\u2026 hits the club. And it\u2019s here she meets industry fringe player Tedros (Abel \u201cThe Weeknd\u201d Tesfaye<\/a> who also serves as a producer on the series).<\/p>\n

Somehow \u2014 and it\u2019s not made clear how \u2014 there\u2019s a connection between these two. As though he has caught Jocelyn at the exact degree of recklessness needed to pursue her, Tedros infiltrates the young pop star\u2019s mind in the most predatory of ways. \u00a0Soon, they are hooking up in the stairwell. Soon after, he is tying a scarf around Jocelyn\u2019s head, choking her and cutting a hole in said scarf so she can breathe, while rubbing ice between her legs.<\/p>\n

If you haven\u2019t caught on yet, Levinson\u2019s lens is shot for the male gaze. Depp is seen in compromising positions constantly \u2014 and when she masturbates, we never see her achieve pleasure \u2014 surely a far-cry from the direction the show was originally meant to take when it first started shooting under a female director. In April 2022, Amy Seimetz of The Girlfriend Experience<\/em> suddenly exited the project with reportedly<\/a> a near 80 percent of the six-episode series finished. There was little explanation behind the sudden departure, other than Tesfaye allegedly<\/a> citing the script was leaning too far into the “female perspective,” a claim he has since fervently denied.<\/p>\n

\"lily-rose-depp-the-weeknd-the-idol-cannes\"
CANNES, FRANCE – MAY 23: Lily-Rose Depp and Abel ‘The Weeknd’ Tesfaye attend “The Idol” photocall at the 76th annual Cannes film festival at Palais des Festivals on May 23, 2023 in Cannes, France. (Photo by Stephane Cardinale – Corbis\/Corbis via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"lily-rose-depp-the-weeknd-the-idol-cannes\"
CANNES, FRANCE – MAY 23: Lily-Rose Depp and Abel ‘The Weeknd’ Tesfaye attend “The Idol” photocall at the 76th annual Cannes film festival at Palais des Festivals on May 23, 2023 in Cannes, France. (Photo by Stephane Cardinale – Corbis\/Corbis via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI originally wanted to make a dark twisted fairy tale about the music industry and everything I know about it \u2014 and heighten it,\u201d Tesfaye, 33, told the press in Cannes. \u201cWhen I found out how much Sam is involved with the music in Euphoria<\/em>, that\u2019s when it really unlocked it for the both of us. [We wanted to create something that was] special, daring, exciting, fun, made people laugh, and pissed some people off \u2014 that was the initial thought.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe live in a very sexualized world… where the influence of pornography is really strong in terms of the psyche of young people. And we see this in pop music,\u201d added Levinson.<\/p>\n

\"lily-rose-depp-the-weeknd-the-idol-cannes\"
CANNES, FRANCE – MAY 23: Sam Levinson, Lily-Rose Depp and Abel ‘The Weeknd’ Tesfaye attend “The Idol” photocall at the 76th annual Cannes film festival at Palais des Festivals on May 23, 2023 in Cannes, France. (Photo by Mike Marsland\/WireImage)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI think that the way [Jocelyn] dresses is her trying to tell you something\u2026or express something in some kind of way,\u201d says Depp, who, like Tesfaye, arrived at the press conference with black sunglasses on. \u201cI also think the occasional bareness of the character physically mirrors the bareness we get to see emotionally in her\u2013and that was something I thought was very important to the character. When it comes to all of that stuff, I\u2019ve never felt more involved in those kinds of conversations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Take away the controversies, you have a good show \u2014 and one that yes men will tell you received a five-minute standing ovation at its May 22 premiere here in Cannes. (Note: just like in the bedroom, five-minutes isn\u2019t that long in the land of Cannes!)<\/p>\n

At least in the first two episodes, the fixation on Depp\u2019s body feels too voyeuristic to be comfortable viewing. Here\u2019s hoping change is on the way for the remainder of the season.<\/p>\n

The Idol<\/em> premieres on HBO Max on June 4.<\/p>\n