The 7 most shocking Cannes Film Festival movies that caused the most walkouts-Rebecca Sayce-Entertainment – Metro

Walkouts at Cannes Film Festival are not uncommon (Picture: Columbia/Kobal/Shutterstock)

Cannes Film Festival 2024 hasn’t been without its controversial and shocking screenings.

From Demi Moore’s body horror The Substance to David Cronenburg’s disturbingly haunting The Shrouds, critics have had plenty to talk about at this year’s festival.

But this isn’t the first time attendees at the prestigious event have been rocked by what they saw on screen.

Cannes has a long history of screening challenging films, with many audiences simply unprepared to handle what was onscreen forcing them to walk out.

From graphic scenes of sexual violence to lashings of gore, some films have gone down in Cannes history for the sheer volume of attendees who were forced to leave.

As the 77th Cannes Film Festival comes to an end, we look at 7 films that proved too much for viewers and prompted the most walkouts.

Crash

Crash is about an underground group of people who are sexually aroused by cars (Picture: Columbia Tri Star/Kobal/Shutterstock)

Cronenberg has a history of shocking Cannes Festival goers – and not just with The Shrouds or Crimes Of The Future.

Crash premiered at the festival in 1996, telling the story of a film producer (played by James Spader) who becomes involved with an underground group of people who are sexually aroused by car crashes.

Of course, the content caused many to loudly boo the film and walk out with jury president Coppola ‘abstaining very passionately’ to award the film a special jury prize that was invented solely to celebrate Crash.

Cronenberg told The Ringer in 2020: ‘During the final closing night ceremony, [Coppola] wouldn’t hand me the award. He had someone else hand it to me.’

The Great Ecstasy of Robert Carmichael

The Great Ecstasy of Robert Carmichael was included in the Cannes lineup in 2005, but it proved too much for some audience members.

Directed by Thomas Clay, the film tells the story of three teenage boys who find themselves drawn into a murky world of temptation and violence before a shocking act rocks their seaside town.

Nominated for the Camera d’Or award, many who watched the film walked out due to the graphic violence depicted onscreen, including a horrific gang-rape sequence.

One critic even described the flick as so violent ‘it makes Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange look like a Britney Spears’ video.’

Taxi Driver

Taxi Driver is now considered a classic – but an early screening didn’t go down well (Picture: Film Four)

Despite winning the Palme d’Or when it appeared at Cannes, Taxi Driver’s screening wasn’t without controversy.

Starring Robert de Niro in the lead role, Martin Scorsese’s masterpiece tells the story of mentally unstable New York cabbie Travis Bickle who becomes increasingly detached from society as he dreams of cleaning up the corrupt and morally depraved streets.

According to The Hollywood Reporter at the time, crowds of people booed the film and walked out due to the film’s highly violent final scenes.

Jodie Foster, who appeared in the film as 12-year-old sex worker Iris, said of the reaction: ‘The whole issue about the violence in the movie kind of exploded. Marty, Bobby and Harvey kind of got stuck at the Hotel du Cap and didn’t come out very much.’

Mektoub, My Love: Intermezzo

Mektoub, My Love: Intermezzo was widely panned after it premiered at Cannes in 2019.

One particular scene caused viewers to walk out in droves, including leading lady Ophélie Bau. It saw a 13-minute unsimulated sex scene where actress Bau receives oral sex from actor Roméo de Lacour and is brought to orgasm.

Stephen David Miller posted a picture on X at the time of the remnants of the crowd by the end of the film, writing: ‘I’ve witnessed the worst film in competition by miles, and its name is MEKTOUB.

‘Like Louis CK’s leaked standup, Kechiche takes every valid complaint lobbed at BitWC and quadruples down: contemptible, male gazing garbage. Here’s the skeleton crew that didn’t walk out. #Cannes2019.’

Antichrist

Antichrist was branded an ‘abomination’ by one critic (Picture: Christian Geisnaes)

Antichrist is widely regarded as one of the most shocking films in the history of the Cannes Film Festival due to the reaction it received when it was screened in 2009.

The film, part of Trier’s depression trilogy, follows a grieving couple as they retreat to their cabin in the woods following the tragic death of their son.

Directed by master of the macabre Lars Von Trier, the screening at Cannes saw crowds of people leave, four people faint, and one critic call the film ‘an abomination’.

It was arguably THE most talked about film at the festival, starkly dividing critics and receiving an ‘anti award’ by the ecumenical jury at the festival who claimed the film was ‘the most misogynist movie from the self-proclaimed biggest director in the world.’

During a press conference, a Daily Mail journalist asked Trier to explain why he made the film, to which he said he found the question ‘strange’ and said he considered audiences his guests, ‘not the other way around.’

The House That Jack Built

Director Lars is renowned for making controversial films (Picture: Zentropa/Kobal/Shutterstock)

Lars von Trier once more proved he is the menace of the Cannes Film Festival with 2018 serial killer drama The House That Jack Built.

The film stars Matt Dillion as a serial killer who mutilates and strangles victims – primarily women- from start to finish, including truly gut-wrenching scenes of child murder.

Variety co-editor-in-chief Ramin Setoodeh wrote on X at the time: ‘I’ve never seen anything like this at a film festival. More than 100 people have walked out of Lars von Trier’s ‘The House That Jack Built,’ which depicts the mutilation of women and children. “It’s disgusting,” one woman said on her way out. #Cannes2018.’

Trier wasn’t upset, however, rather he told The Guardian in 2018 that he was worried audiences wouldn’t hate the film enough for his liking.

Irreversible

More than 200 people reportedly walked out of a screening of Irreversible (Picture: Studio Canal+/Kobal/Shutterstock)

When Gaspar Noe’s Irréversible premiered at Cannes, a whopping 250 people reportedly walked out of the screening with a vast majority of them requiring medical attention.

In reverse-chronological order,the psychological horror follows the traumatic events of one night in Paris after a young woman is brutally raped and beaten by a stranger.

According to the BBC, fire wardens had to administer oxygen to 20 people who fainted during the film, with some claiming it was due to the film’s low-frequency score and others citing a graphic 10-minute rape sequence near the start.

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