The highly anticipated return of Kantemir Balagov opens the Cannes Fortnight

At the centre of the narrative is a teenager, torn between his sense of duty to help the family diner and his dream of becoming a wrestler.

After describing in 'The Autumn Girl' a young woman trying to survive in post-World War II Leningrad, Balagov this time focuses on the present and on a male character, telling a story about pride and heritage in an undoubtedly delicate father-son relationship.

Opening with a sequence that already reveals to us the tragic end of one of the characters, 'Butterfly Jam' is a film that, in addition to family dynamics, reflects on the identity of a Circassian community, insisting in particular on one of the traditional dishes that also becomes a symbol of an (American?) dream that can never be realised.

There is a lot at stake, and in this kind of urban fairy tale the ingredients are not always dosed properly: the balance between the many topics only half works, as does the involvement of the audience, which is partly limited by a too erratic pace.

One can see that Balagov has talent, but in this American transfer his stylistic strength is somewhat watered down and falls victim to the feeling of the already seen that peeps out here and there in the course of the narrative: from Andrea Arnold to James Gray, the names that come to mind are indeed numerous.

It should be noted that during the opening ceremony of the Directors' Fortnight, Claire Denis was presented with the Carrosse d'or, an award that the prestigious parallel section of the Cannes Film Festival gives each year to a particularly important filmmaker.

And it is a truly well-deserved award for an extraordinary (and, unfortunately, little known in our country) director who, over the course of her career, has created several remarkable films such as 'Beau travail', 'Cannibal Love', 'L'intrus' and 'High Life', true audiovisual symphonies in which her splendid images were perfectly matched with impossible-to-forget soundtracks.