Sam Levinson’s highly-anticipated HBO drama The Idol, starring Abel "The Weeknd" Tesfaye was given a five-minute standing ovation at Cannes Film Festival on May 22.
Five minutes is an awkwardly long time to stand and applaud anything, and by the festival's standards anything under ten minutes is almost seen as polite Cannes tradition.
Then again, for a show described as “twisted torture porn”, such a long ovation (and two minutes less than a man who once sent a text about burning and raping his ex-wife’s corpse) it's still questionable.
The Idol, which has been dubbed as a darker and even more risqué Euphoria (a series also directed by Levinson), follows the story of a popstar (Lily-Rose Depp) and her befriend nightclub owner Tedros (The Weeknd), who turns out to also be the founder of a local extremist cult.
Originally directed by Amy Seimetz before her unexpected departure with the series near-on complete back in April 2022, The Idol was then reportedly given an overhaul by Levinson, which cost the production a rumored $75 million.
However, following countless rewrites and reshoots (and now a 20% score on Rotten Tomatoes, which is an aggregation of early scores from critics), the series is reported to have “gone wildly, disgustingly off the rails” according to the review, and has been described as "like any rape fantasy that any toxic man would have”.
Naturally, for a show embroiled with such controversies to receive such a wholesome reception has social media bursting at the seams, with one Tweet describing the show as "a Pornhub-homepage odyssey starring Lily Rose Depp’s areolas and The Weeknd’s greasy rat tail."
Cannes' ability to turn a blind eye to a series that's way wide of the mark isn't surprising given the industry's history of disregard to controversial subjects.
Still, The Idol may well end up being one of the most talked about shows of 2023, but, if early reviews are anything to go by, it’ll likely be for all the wrong reasons.
