DALLOWAY © Nicolas Velter © 2024 Mandarin & Compagnie – Gaumont – Panache Production – La compagnie Cinématographique
Dalloway: Yann Gozlan presents a new thriller about AI
Successful writer of Un homme idéal (A Perfect Man) (2014) and Boîte noire (Black Box) (2020), Yann Gozlan makes his debut at Cannes with Dalloway, presented at Midnight Screenings. This new thriller brings together Cécile de France and Mylène Farmer on a subject that is very much a modern-day fear: Artificial Intelligence.
After his last film, Visions, which was released in 2023, featuring Diane Kruger and Mathieu Kassovitz, Dalloway stars actress Cécile de France and singer Mylène Farmer, who lends her voice to a mysterious Artificial Intelligence. Adapted from the novel Les Fleurs de l’ombre (Flowers of Darkness) by Tatiana de Rosnay, the plot follows Clarissa (Cécile de France), a novelist lacking inspiration—a theme already explored in Un homme idéal (A Perfect Man)—who joins an artist residency at the cutting edge of technology. She is given a virtual assistant called Dalloway, who quickly becomes a valuable help, as well as a friend and confidant. However, over time, Clarissa begins to grow uneasy about the increasingly intrusive presence of her AI.
In Dalloway, Yann Gozlan reconnects with his favorite genre: the psychological thriller. In this film, he creates a psychosis around AI, which is a modern-day topic that is commonly explored in cinema, from Her to A.I. Artificial Intelligence, and up to most recently Mission: Impossible.
Cécile de France, whose last appearance at Cannes was in 2023 for Bonnard, Pierre et Marthe (Bonnard, Pierre and Marthe) by Martin Provost, will again walk the red carpet this year for La Venue de l’avenir (Colours of Time) by Cédric Klapisch (Out of Competition). As for Mylène Farmer, who sat on the Feature Films Jury in 2021, she lit up the Grand Théâtre Lumière at the Opening Ceremony with her outstanding performance in tribute to her friend, David Lynch.
