Stan Cries at Cannes: Fjord Gets Standing Ovation

SCREEN & SOUND Sebastian Stan sobbing at a film premiere shouldn't be news.

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Overview

**SCREEN & SOUND** Sebastian Stan sobbing at a film premiere shouldn't be news.

It's what they do when they're not busy pretending their superhero movies are Chekhov.

But when "Fjord" earned its ten-minute standing ovation at Cannes on Monday night, Stan's tears felt different — earned, not performed.

Cristian Mungiu's latest is apparently a family legal saga that doubles as cultural warfare, with Stan and Norwegian powerhouse Renate Reinsve playing religious parents accused of child abuse.

The premise alone should terrify anyone who's watched the American right weaponise family values for the past decade.

SCREEN & SOUND

Sebastian Stan sobbing at a film premiere shouldn't be news. Actors cry. It's what they do when they're not busy pretending their superhero movies are Chekhov. But when "Fjord" earned its ten-minute standing ovation at Cannes on Monday night, Stan's tears felt different — earned, not performed.

Cristian Mungiu's latest is apparently a family legal saga that doubles as cultural warfare, with Stan and Norwegian powerhouse Renate Reinsve playing religious parents accused of child abuse. The premise alone should terrify anyone who's watched the American right weaponise family values for the past decade. Mungiu, who gave us the abortion masterpiece "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days," doesn't make comfortable films. He makes necessary ones.

Stan arriving with pregnant girlfriend Annabelle Wallis provided the kind of real-life context that makes fictional family drama hit different. Here's an actor about to become a father, promoting a film about parents whose world implodes. The optics write themselves.

Meanwhile, Disney's allegedly staging Pedro Pascal fan encounters at Disneyland because nothing says authentic connection like corporate choreography. The Mouse House turning genuine surprise into branded content is peak 2026 — everything is content, even the moments that aren't supposed to be.

Paul Feig pivoting back to erotic thrillers with "Persona" after his recent box office success feels like someone finally reading the room. Fatal Attraction for the algorithm age? Sign me up. At least someone understands that sexy doesn't have to mean stupid.

The verdict: "Fjord" sounds like the kind of film that reminds you why Cannes still matters. Sometimes you need to cry in a cinema to remember you're alive.

Editor's Note

Stan's tears were real because "Fjord" forces him to actually parent on screen instead of just brooding in leather — turns out there's a difference between playing damaged and playing responsible.

— Elena Vella

Dua Mifsud

Culture, Fashion & Gen Z Editor

Dua Mifsud dropped out of university in her second year, not because she couldn't do it but because she could see exactly where it was going. Her mother is in Malta, her father is in London, and she is usually somewhere between the two — on a plane, in a concert queue, or watching a film alone in the dark. She is the shortest person in any room and usually the most dangerous.

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Edited by Ilhan Irem Yuce · Chief Editor, News Beast