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Ah! The Cannes Film Festival. Despite being one of the biggest platforms in the world to showcase some of the best movies the world has ever seen, the festival has had a plethora of controversies involving celebrities.

From forcing women to dress according to some rules and regulations to a director joking that he is a nazi, the Cannes Film Festival has brushed a lot with controversies and critics. Well, here are the seven most controversial celebrity moments that just went too far! Although not every controversy was necessarily a bad thing!

1. The Cannes Film Festival became a political platform

This is one of the few controversies that hasn’t been a bad thing in recent times. French star Gérard Depardieu, who had faced allegations of se*ual assault, was finally handed an 18-month suspension sentence for groping two stars while filming the 2021 film The Green Shutters.

Cannes Film Festival | Credits: bestentours,...

This year’s Cannes Film Festival kicked off with Gerard Depardieu’s 18-month suspended sentence for sexual assault on two women during the filming of “The Green Shutters.” While that case itself has nothing to do with the festival, the sentencing of Depardieu, once a frequent presence at Cannes, was a reminder of how far France has come in embracing the #MeToo movement it was initially slow to champion.

And that wasn’t the only sign of shifting attitudes in the country and its most prominent showcase for cinema when it comes to sexual violence. This year, Cannes has issued a new rule banning filmmakers or talent accused of sexual misconduct from walking the red carpet and presenting films at the festival. Because of the change, the festival forbid Theo Navarro-Mussy from attending the premiere of Dominik Moll’s “Case 137” because he has been accused of rape and sexual assault.

The third day of Cannes was noticeably sleepier, but what could compete with Tom Cruise and the cast and crew of “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” storming the Croisette?

Broken silence

On the first day of the Cannes Film Festival, a letter was published condemning the silence of the Hollywood film industry over Israel’s military action in Gaza. Now, more A-listers have added their names to the list, including Joaquin Phoenix (whose “Eddington” premieres at the festival Friday), jury president Juliette Binoche, Riz Ahmed, Jim Jarmusch, Michael Moore and Guillermo del Toro, whose long-awaited take on “Frankenstein” opens later this year.

“Since the terrible massacres of 7 October 2023, no foreign journalist has been authorised to enter the Gaza Strip. The Israeli army is targeting civilians. More than 200 journalists have been deliberately killed. Writers, filmmakers and artists are being brutally murdered,” the letter stated.

What spurred the letter, specifically, was...

Exclusive: When it came to Thursday’s last-minute red carpet ban of Dossier 137 actor Théo Navarro-Mussy by the Cannes Film Festival, director Dominik Moll has no qualms.

Navarro-Mussy was accused of sexual assault by three women with the complaint dismissed by courts in April, but Cannes Film Festival Delegate General Thierry Fremaux barred the actor from appearing at the pic’s premiere in what seems to be a cue set by the French César Academy. That org states that cinema professionals under investigation for any violent acts are not welcome at the ceremony and can’t receive any type of award, publicly or behind closed doors, until the case is ruled on.

We caught up with French-German filmmaker Moll following the pic’s press conference Friday and asked him whether it was fair for Cannes to implement such a ban on the thespian.

“I understand their decision because they...

Hi there, hope you’re enjoying the opening Cannes week. Jesse Whittock here to curate the big news from the sunny Croisette and elsewhere. Sign up for the newsletter here.

Crusie In Cannes

Tom Cruise on the Palais red carpet

Workers rights and ‘The Final Reckoning’: Cannes 2025 opened this week in almost identical fashion to last year’s edition: With a tepidly reviewed French movie and staff protests. Amélie Bonnin’s Leave One Day was the movie this year, and Cannes staffers represented by the unofficial union Sous Les Écrans La Dèche were present at the opening night gala with placards and posters. The staffers were once again protesting to raise awareness about what they have described as their unfair working conditions. They’re hoping to finally be included in France’s unique scheme for seasonal cultural workers, which grants benefits like unemployment pay. Last-minute talks between Cannes and the French government broke down,...

Dominik Moll, the Cesar-winning French director whose film “Case 137” world premiered in competition at Cannes on Thursday evening, talked about the timeliness of his movie which tackles police misconduct through the prism of a meticulous investigation.

“Case 137” is set during France’s yellow vests protests and centers on a young man who gets injured by by a flash-ball projectile. Léa Drucker, who is also at Cannes with Laura Wandel’s “Adam’s Sake,” stars in “Case 137” as an investigator in the French Igpn (internal affairs) department who is assigned the task of determining who is responsible for the incident.

Moll started working on the project years ago, during the violent Gilets Jaunes protests that rocked the country in 2018 and 2019 as a vehicle to probe divides in French society. Yet, the film wasn’t meant to be a bombshell political thriller as was Ladj Ly’s “Les Miserables” or Romain Gavras’ “Athena,...

Has Cannes gone all political on us? The French film festival, which used to pride itself on, sometimes to a fault, being the apolitical “cinema for cinema’s sake” festival, appears to be storming the barricades.

The 78th Festival featured one of the most political opening ceremonies in living memory. In his speech accepting an honorary Palme d’Or, Robert De Niro lambasted U.S. President Donald Trump, labeling him “America’s Philistine president” and rallying the audience to “act now…without violence, but with great passion and determination” to defend democracy. “It’s time for everyone who cares about liberty to organize, to protest, and when there are elections, vote. Vote. Tonight, and for the next 11 days, we show our strength and commitment by celebrating art in this glorious festival. Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité.”

Ceremony host, French actor Laurent Lafitte, gave a similarly passionate and highly political speech, calling on...

In director Dominik Moll’s superb 2022 police thriller, The Night of the 12th, the focus was on French detectives pursuing a vicious killer who was forever out of reach. The closer they came to nabbing him, the more he got away, leaving them to turn in circles year after year during a long, existential quest that left none of them unscathed.

In that movie, the cops were flawed human beings and clearly chauvinistic (there was only one woman on the squad), but they were still the good guys. In Dossier 137, a piercing slow-burn examination of police brutality, the tables have turned and the cops have become the criminals, making us question the very notion of policing in a France racked by social unrest and class division. Made with the same laser-cut precision as his previous work, but with a greater emphasis on procedure than before, Moll’s new thriller...

Theo Navarro-Mussy is banned from the 2025 Cannes Film Festival red carpet.

The Dossier 137 actor was not in attendance for the film’s premiere Thursday night (May 15) amid accusations of rape and sexual assault.

Theo has a supporting role in the film.

The movie’s producers Caroline Benjo and Carole Scotta told Variety the allegations occurred “well before the film was shot.”

Keep reading to find out more…

“Even though the alleged facts largely predate the production of the film, we decided with the festival management that the person in question would not accompany the film to Cannes, out of respect for the plaintiffs and for the victims’ word, and without prejudice to the presumption of innocence of the accused,” the duo said in a statement.

“The management of the Cannes Film Festival has been very clear about not highlighting any person suspected of sexist or sexual violence. For Haut et Court,...

French-German filmmaker Dominik Moll returned to the Cannes Competition on Thursday with police drama Dossier 137, which received a very enthusiastic eight-minute ovation — where the audience actually was standing.

The applause might have continued, but the people were ushered out of the theater just before the 12-minute mark so it could be cleared for the next screening.

Dominik Moll’s competition film ‘Dossier 137’, a thrilling examination of police investigating corrupt riot officers, received a tremendously enthusiastic 8 minute standing ovation in #Cannes2025 pic.twitter.com/gxq8lD4U5o

— Deadline (@Deadline) May 15, 2025

The film stars Léa Drucker as a police officer working for Internal Affairs who is assigned to a case involving a young man severely wounded during a tense and chaotic demonstration in Paris. While she finds no evidence of illegitimate police violence, the case takes a personal turn when she discovers the victim is from her hometown.

In her review for Deadline,...

During the second day of the Cannes Film Festival, a fallen filmmaker icon was remembered and Tom Cruise showed the crowd the awe-inspiring power of movies.

Choose to Accept It

Tom Cruise stormed Cannes with a glitzy screening of “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning.” Big Hollywood screenings are par for the course with Cannes, but they can be a dangerous proposition. A couple of years ago, when “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” showed up to the festival, it was met with critical derision and wore those toxic reviews for six weeks before the movie opened. Thankfully, the response out of Cannes – complete with a five to seven-and-a-half minute standing ovation (depending on who you believe) was over-the-moon.

The film, which could be the final installment in the blockbuster franchise that began way back in 1996, was met with a warm response. (The review embargo broke right after the...

Theo Navarro-Mussy has a secondary role as a police officer in the film Dossier 137 by Dominik Moll which is to premiere on Thursday

The Cannes film festival said it had banned an actor in a prominent French film from the red carpet on Thursday because of sexual assault allegations against him.

Theo Navarro-Mussy has a secondary role as a police officer in the film Dossier 137 by Dominik Moll which is to premiere on Thursday in the festival’s main competition. According to French magazine Télérama, which broke the news, Navarro-Mussy was accused of rape by three former partners in 2018, 2019, and 2020, but the case was dropped last month for lack of evidence.

French actor Théo Navarro-Mussy did not join his co-stars on the red carpet for the premiere of their film “Dossier 137” at the Cannes Film Festival on Thursday, TheWrap has learned.

He has been banned from participating due to an impending civil suit against him accusing him of rape, according to local reports.

“Last week, the Cannes Festival management received a warning about an actor who appears in ‘Dossier 137’ regarding a case dating back to 2023, long before our film was shot. The case in question was dismissed in 2025, but the plaintiffs intend to bring a civil suit in response to the verdict,” movie producers Haut et Court said in a statement to TheWrap.

“Even though the allegations largely predate the production of the film, we agreed with the Festival management that the person in question will not accompany the film to Cannes, out of respect for the plaintiffs and their right to be heard,...

Cannes Film Festival leadership has removed actor Théo Navarro-Mussy from the red-carpet lineup for Dominik Moll’s competition entry Dossier 137 amid allegations of rape and physical and psychological violence by three women. Delegate General Thierry Frémaux informed the film’s team of his decision after the actors’ association Ada alerted him to official complaints dating to 2018, 2019 and 2020.

Though French courts dismissed the criminal case in April 2025, the complainants have registered as civil parties and intend to appeal. Frémaux explained that, since the investigation remains active through the appeal, the festival will withhold public recognition of anyone under such inquiry, following the César Academy’s protocol for incidents of violence.

Dossier 137 producers Caroline Benjo and Carole Scotta, whose Haut et Court backed the political drama, affirmed their support for the ban. They noted that the alleged events occurred “well before the film was shot” yet agreed with festival management...

Cannes Film Festival Delegate General Thierry Fremaux has banned an actor due to walk the red carpet Thursday with Palme d’Or contender Dossier 137 after it emerged that he has been accused of sexual assault by three women.

Théo Navarro-Mussy was set to join the cast and crew this evening for the Competition screening of Dominik Moll’s drama Dossier 137, about a police officer assigned to a case about a young man alleging police violence.

According to French film and TV magazine Télérama, which broke the story, Frémaux made the decision after being informed by actors’ association Ada of official complaints against the actor for rape as well as physical and psychological violence by three women.

The accusations relate to events in 2018, 2019 and 2020. The complaint was dismissed by the courts in April 2025, but the plaintiffs have said they are planning to lodge an appeal as civil parties.

Related:...

Cannes Film Festival has banned “Dossier 137” actor Theo Navarro-Mussy from walking the red carpet at the film’s premiere on Thursday night amid accusations of rape and sexual assault.

Navarro-Mussy has a supporting role in “Dossier 137,” one of this year’s Cannes competition titles. News of his banning from the red carpet broke ahead of the movie’s Thursday evening premiere at the festival’s Palais theater.

Contacted by Variety, Navarro-Mussy’s lawyer said in a statement that the “case was closed for an insufficiently serious offense in April 2025.” She said the “plaintiffs have announced that they will be filing a new complaint, although this has not yet been done.”

“Dossier 137” producers Caroline Benjo and Carole Scotta, whose Haut et Court backed the political drama, told Variety the allegations against Navarro-Mussy date back to a case that occurred “well before the film was shot.”

“Even though the...

French actor Théo Navarro-Mussy has been banned from walking the red carpet in Cannes because he faces accusations of rape and sexual assault. This is the first time an actor has been banned from the festival due to allegations of sexual violence.

Navarro-Mussy, who appears in Dominik Moll’s Dossier 137, which premieres in Cannes’ competition today, has been accused of “rape, physical and psychological violence” by three former partners. A court last month dismissed the original complaint filed by the alleged victims, but they have said they plan to file a civil case against the actor.

The festival confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that Cannes general delegate Thierry Frémaux took the unprecedented move, in agreement with the film’s producers, to ban Navarro-Mussy from tonight’s gala ceremony. In an interview with French website Télérama, Frémaux justified his decision, noting that the case “remains ongoing” and that the ban...