Rumours
It is a long-established event of august diplomacy and discussion, the annual meeting of the heads of the G7 states to discuss their shared values, the pressing matters of the day and how whatever the inevitable crisis unfolding or predicted will be addressed, forming policy and releasing statements to offer reassurance to the citizens of their own and the other nations of the wider world that all will be well, platitudes and crumbs for the masses.
Yet, removed from the policy advisors and speech writers who might offer guidance and supervision, they are powerful people under pressures which might not present them at their best, Canadian Prime Minister Maxime Laplace indulging in too much wine while British Prime Minister Cardosa Dewindt and German Chancellor Hilda Ortmann attempt to steer him or offer solace when it is realised they have apparently been abandoned.
An absurd comedy of manners carried by an impeccable lead trio of Cate Blanchett, Nikki Amuka-Bird and Roy Dupuis as Hilda, Cardosa and Maxime with Charles Dance, Denis Ménochet, Rolando Ravello and Takehiro Hira representing the interests of America, France, Italy and Japan, the ensemble completed by Zlatko Burić and Alicia Vikander as hosting officers of the European Commission, together they fight Rumours and worse.
Already a surreal fantasy of those who enjoy stratospheric privilege attempting to appear normal as they make awkward small talk, aware a faux pas could cause a diplomatic incident, writing and directing trio Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson and Galen Johnson have thrown further oddities into the mix, the preserved bog bodies rising from their nearby muddy pits to menacingly lurk as though accusing the gathered leaders of failure, the giant brain found in the forest which may be telepathically influencing the situation.
Ostensibly representing their countries and so, accurately or not, by extension seen to be the embodiment of those nations and their values, with inappropriate revelations over the dinner table it is perhaps fortunate that none of the characters who populate Rumours are apparently modelled on or emulating any public figures who have held such positions, mediator Hilda attempting to negotiate Maxime’s emotional crisis as the leaders of the world’s most powerful nations act like teenagers trying to survive a horror movie.
Dance particularly incongruous, his nihilistic Edison Wolcott out in the wild unsupervised and with no American accent, his only protection the ostentatious Stars and Stripes napkin tucked into his collar, the stumbling trek through the dark and misty woods to supposed safety is punctuated with moments of bizarre brilliance, their arrival prompting Maxime, his hair flowing, to don a tin foil blanket as though it were a cape, the scandal-ridden lovelorn politician who sees himself as a superhero in a burning world.
Rumours will be on limited release from Friday 6th December
