Penn unfazed as ‘The Last Face’ ripped apart in Cannes

By Sarah Mills

CANNES, France (Reuters) – Sean Penn stood by his latest opus after “The Last Face”, which will premiere for the public at the Cannes Film Festival later on Friday, was ripped apart after the media screening.

“I just finished the film, so it’s not a discussion that I think I can be of any value to, I stand behind the film as it is and certainly everyone is going to be well entitled to their response,” Penn told a news conference on Friday.

Set against the backdrop of the Liberian war, “The Last Face” revolves around a love story between two aid workers. But it failed to convince the viewers who started to boo in the opening minutes. 

The Daily Telegraph wrote that “Penn has never made a film this bad before” while The Hollywood Reporter labeled the effort as “stunningly self-important but numbingly empty cocktail of romance and insulting refugee porn”.

(Writing by Julien Pretot)