'Rumours' Review: An Audacious Political Comedy For Today's Climate(s) [TIFF 2024]
Cate Blanchet along with Winnipeg's finest directors revel in a satirical look at world leaders and the end of the world in this frill-free disaster-comedy.
Satirical comedies becoming buzz-worthy highlights at the major film festivals has been something of a regular occurrence throughout this young decade, with films like Parasite, Triangle of Sadness, The Menu, and many more becoming spotlighted. ‘Rumours’, the latest feature from the experimentalist trio of Guy Maddin and Galen and Evan Johnson, fits this mold of a high-concept as the basis of the film with political or social overtones by definition alone, but is simply so audacious and delightful, being continually unpredictable from beginning to end.
Rumours sees the meeting of many prominent world leaders at a fictionalized version of the G7 summit, where they join to draft a provisional statement regarding a unnamed environmental crisis. Not long after their initial gathering, a series of abrupt false-starts to the brainstorming and writing processes occurs. Niceties and any sense of governmental professionalism goes out the door when the true personalities of these leaders are forced to emerge as their seemingly idyllic forest-based retreat becomes a breeding ground for supernatural occurrences in their environment. This idea of an unproductive, bureaucratic climate conference being upended by the very thing these leaders ignore is a clever main idea, executed cleverly throughout the film.
A great strength of Rumours is its ability to continually operate in an observant manner, without feeling subservient to itself or too-heavy handed. The premise itself is outlandish, and while having both political and surreal elements at play, and the filmmakers know this and embrace it tenfold. Rumours does not preoccupy itself with direct or specific political commentary, instead opting for a farcical approach to the absurdity inherent. It does not outright condemn cinematic depiction of political or ideological discourse, but isn’t really interested in it at all. In any case, the film relishes in taking these effectively useless, idiotic politicians down a peg in a fun release of pent up political frustration, doing this through its comedy beats. Rumours’ choice to focus more on overall incompetence and absurdity makes for a very successfully humourous affair which gives its ensemble tons of proverbial meat to chew on.
This film glides on the graces of its terrific ensemble, lead by Canadian Roy Dupuis as the Canadian Prime Minister, Maxime Laplace, and Cate Blanchett as German leader Hilda Ortmann. There are many other big names in the ensemble too, such as Alicia Vikander and Charles Dance. Despite the star power, as previously mentioned, this is an ensemble film first and foremost. A part of why Rumours succeeds at being so fun is because big, dramatic actors are taking smaller, funnier turns, and the whole ensemble is willing to buy into every bit of the craziness at play. The film feels like fun because everyone involved is so clearly having a blast.
Having three directors with experience in surrealist and experimental cinema at the helm helps to make the tonal element of this film work as well as it does. I’ve already spoke about its rather laissez-faire approach to its political subject matter, but the way that Maddin and the Johnsons use the environment, both in the story and from a visually artistic standpoint is honestly a sight to behold. The much be-leagued environment essentially manifests into absurd obstacles and threats toward the ensemble of politicians in the forms of masturbating zombie-like creatures, a giant, sentient brain rooted in the ground, and other impressive practical creations, which I will refrain from mentioning for the intended comedic effect of their reveals in the film to come across even more effectively. These elemental forces are a constant problem for our politicians, but rarely ever seem to be threatening to us as an audience, an assured choice from the creative team to highlight the overall egotistic nature and general incompetence of these neurotic politicians as the ultimate roots of their own perils. The environmental side of the story is also manifests in many direct comedic parallels to the melodrama at play.
Although as it winds down, Rumours can feel as if the sporadic nature of its narrative does lead the film a bit too far astray, but any qualms to be had about pacing or overall structure are sure to be nullified by the sheer extent of this film’s comedic bravado. The wholehearted, steadfast commitment to bridging the realistic characters with such a audacious, campy scenario makes for a runtime worth of laugh-out loud gags that encompass the entirety of the comedic spectrum, making for an entertaining watch which is sure to win over audiences.