Asghar Farhadi's 'Everybody Knows' Opens 71st Cannes Film Festival

Asghar Farhadi's Spanish-language film 'Todos lo Saben' (English title 'Everybody Knows') opened the 71st Cannes Film Festival on May 8, 2018. The film, co-produced by Italy's Lucky Red, stars Penélope Cruz, Javier Bardem, and Ricardo Darín. It is the second Spanish-language film to open Cannes after Pedro Almodóvar's 'Bad Education' in 2004. The story follows Laura, a Spanish woman living in Buenos Aires who returns to her hometown near Madrid for her sister's wedding, leading to a family kidnapping and buried secrets. Farhadi, known for 'The Salesman', shifts to a noir genre while exploring universal human emotions. The film received mixed reviews from French press, being called a 'sympathetic telenovela'. Cruz noted that the project took five years to develop, with Farhadi moving to Spain and memorizing dialogues despite not speaking Spanish. The film competes for the Palme d'Or.