Cannes cinemagoers may only have seen two episodes of new HBO series "The Idol," which premiered at the festival on Monday, but they got what some critics said was a "shocking" amount of raunchy sex scenes.
The series stars Lily-Rose Depp as a pop star struggling to get back on track after a public breakdown, surrounded by heartless handlers, when she meets the manipulative leader of a modern-day cult, played by musician Abel "The Weeknd" Tesfaye.
A leaked revenge porn shot of Depp with semen on her face is seen as a pathway to more fame, with a mention of reality star Kim Kardashian, and there is a significant nod to Britney Spears and the toxic fame that engulfed 90s female pop stars.
"When you're famous, everyone lies to you," Depp says, between two kinky masturbation scenes and dozens of shots of her breasts.
Feeling a loss of control over her art, Tesfaye's character starts to lure her in, despite her best friend and assistant warning her he is "so rapey."
"I kinda like that about him," says Depp's character.
The series received a modest five-minute ovation, and early reviewers focused on the kink, which included some graphic dirty talk.
An Indiewire columnist wrote on Twitter it was like putting "'Black Swan', 'Succession', and 'Secretary' in a blender' ... Prepare yourself for quite the discourse."
The series had already been plagued by rumours of onset turmoil and graphic sex scenes.
Indian actress Urvashi Rautela arrives for the screening of the film "Club Zero" during the 76th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in southern France.–AFP
Variety reported that the show needed major re-writes and re-shoots and switched director midway through, bringing in "Euphoria" creator Sam Levinson.
However, it does bring yet another complex female character to Cannes, which has served up plenty of films exploring the dark side of women, and making their stories the focus.
- Race for the Palme -
The world's leading industry extravaganza has entered its second week, and the competition for the main prize, the Palme D'Or is heating up.
Tuesday will bring more stars to the red carpet with the premiere of Wes Anderson's "Asteroid City" -- about American space cadets -- with a dazzling cast including Margot Robbie, Tom Hanks, Scarlett Johansson, Tilda Swinton and Jeff Goldblum.
On Sunday, Jude Law awed and disgusted cinemagoers with his portrayal of King Henry VIII -- with a stomach-turning leg infection and penchant for offing his wives -- in "Firebrand", which premiered on Sunday.
The movie focuses on Catherine Parr, the only of Henry's wives to outlive him, played by Alicia Vikander.
Festival favourite, Finland's Aki Kaurismaki, returned with his bittersweet romance "Fallen Leaves" on Monday, along with "Club Zero" by Austria's Jessica Hausner about a nutrition cult.
There are still movies to come from past winners, Britain's Ken Loach and Germany's Wim Wenders, among others.
An early front-runner from the first week is British director Jonathan Glazer's "The Zone of Interest", a unique and horrifying look at the private life of a Nazi officer working at the Auschwitz concentration camp.
There was also a lot of love for Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore's "May December," which looks at the relationship between an older woman and a schoolboy, still married years after their relationship became a tabloid scandal.
The festival has also seen major out-of-competition world premieres for "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny" and Martin Scorsese's "Killers of the Flower Moon" which received rave reviews over the weekend.
And Lily-Rose's father Johnny Depp made a splash at the festival, with the controversial actor appearing as French King Louis XV in opening film "Jeanne du Barry".
Cannes queasy over vomit-eating dieting drama
Cannes endured the nauseating sight of someone eating her own vomit on Monday, but the film's star, Mia Wasikowska, said it was a dark satire on the challenges facing teens.
The film festival awarded its top prize last year to a movie involving a 15-minute vomiting sequence, "Triangle of Sadness", and this year got its own gross-out scene in "Club Zero", this time set around a nutrition cult.
In one particularly revolting scene, a girl wanting to save the planet makes herself sick in front of her appalled parents and then eats her own vomit with a fork.
Wasikowska, known from "Alice in Wonderland" and "Crimson Peak", said the film uses eating disorders and cults to explore the anxieties of younger generations faced by climate change and global inequalities.
"I always think that if I was a teenager now I would be so nervous with the world that we are inheriting," Wasikowska told AFP.
"I just found it moving that these kids join this class because they care about the planet, a lot of them want to eat less meat, be more conscious. It's the most beautiful part of young people. And it gets corrupted, influenced."
The new feature from Austrian director Jessica Hausner takes place in a prestigious European college and centres on a group of teenagers who come under the influence of Ms Novak (Wasikowska), who advocates "conscious eating".
Essentially this means eating nothing in a bid to save the planet and opt out of consumer culture.
Speaking to AFP just ahead of the film's premiere in Cannes on Monday, Hausner said her film explored what happens when you follow an extreme idea to its limit.
"It is not to make people uneasy, it is to show how radicalisation works," Hausner said of the stomach-churning vomit scene.
With its satirical tone and touches of absurdist humour, it echoes the themes and style of "Triangle of Sadness", which won the Palme d'Or for Sweden's Ruben Ostlund, who is heading this year's jury.
- True believers -
Hausner and Wasikowska, an Australian actress who has starred in films by Tim Burton, Jim Jarmusch and David Cronenberg, prepared by researching cults and sects.
Key for Hausner was to make the teacher sincere in her beliefs rather than an evil manipulator.
"Jessica was absolutely insistent that she is a true believer and really believes what she is doing is the right thing," Wasikowska said.
The kids and Ms Novak "start to believe in something we would normally say is wrong and crazy, and this is very hard to accept, that people believe in ideas that are devastating or destructive", Hausner said.
Hausner's last feature "Little Joe", about an experiment in plant breeding going too far, was in competition at Cannes in 2019 and won best actress for Britain's Emily Beecham.
Like that film, "Club Zero" uses strong colours and creates an eerie atmosphere with an absurdist touch.
"I don't set the films in a particular time, so I try to create an artificial style with the visuals," Hausner said, adding that she was "bored" with naturalism.