Ryusuke Hamaguchi's film gets 11‑minute ovation

Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “All of a Sudden” received an 11-minute standing ovation after its Cannes Film Festival premiere on May 16, according to trade reports and other festival coverage. The response put the Japanese director’s latest film among the most talked-about early titles in this year’s main competition. Cannes lists the film, under its French title “Soudain,” as a 196-minute entry in competition and Hamaguchi’s third appearance in the section. The film is Hamaguchi’s first partly France-shot, French-language feature, according to the festival, and stars Belgian actor Virginie Efira opposite Japanese actor Tao Okamoto. Cannes says the story follows Marie-Lou, who runs an elder-care facility, and Mari, a Japanese theater director living with cancer, whose friendship reshapes both women’s lives. The festival also says the film is a loose adaptation of a documentary book co-written by Maoko Miyano and Maho Isono. (deadline.com) ### How solid is the 11-minute ovation figure? Deadline reported that “All of a Sudden” drew “an effusive 11-minute cascade of applause” after its screening on May 15 local festival time. The Hindu, in a May 17 report, also described the reception as an 11-minute ovation and said it was the longest reported response of the festival so far. Variety, however, reported a seven-minute ovation in a May 15 item, showing how Cannes ovation timings can vary by outlet and method of counting. (festival-cannes.com) Cannes itself has published the film’s competition page, production details and photocall material, but the festival pages available in search results do not assign an official ovation length. That means the applause figure rests on media reports rather than a festival-issued timing. ### What is Hamaguchi bringing to Cannes this time? (deadline.com) Festival de Cannes says “All of a Sudden” centers on care, illness and friendship, with Marie-Lou trying to build a more dignified philosophy of care inside an elder-care home. The festival’s background note says Hamaguchi and his crew lived at the Paris-area facility during filming and that some residents and staff appeared in the movie. Hamaguchi said in the Cannes note that the long stay meant filming became “a kind of entertainment” for many residents. (festival-cannes.com) Virginie Efira told the festival that the production environment shaped her performance. In the Cannes background note, she said she felt the camera captured what she was experiencing rather than simply what she was trying to play. ### Why are Cannes watchers paying close attention to Hamaguchi? (festival-cannes.com) Hamaguchi arrived at Cannes 2026 with an established record at the festival. Cannes says he previously competed with “Asako I & II” and “Drive My Car,” and that “Drive My Car” won best screenplay at the 2021 festival. Trade and review coverage around the new film has tied the premiere to that earlier Cannes standing, even as critics differed in their assessments of the movie itself. (festival-cannes.com) Review coverage published after the premiere was mixed-to-strong rather than uniform. Screen Daily praised the connection between Efira and Okamoto, while Deadline’s review called the film humane but said its 3-hour-plus running time could feel heavy. Those reviews do not determine awards, but they show the film entered the competition with immediate critical attention. (festival-cannes.com) ### What do we know for certain about the film itself? Cannes lists the film’s countries of production as France, Japan, Germany and Belgium. The official competition page names Efira, Okamoto, Kyozo Nagatsuka, Kodai Kurosaki, Jean-Charles Clichet and Marie Bunel in the cast. The same page lists Diaphana Distribution as the French distributor and Bitters End among the Japanese production companies. (screendaily.com) The festival page also gives the running time as 196 minutes, which matches the 3-hour-and-16-minute figure cited in media reports. That made it the longest film in this year’s main competition, according to Deadline and The Hindu. ### When will Cannes answer the awards question? The Cannes Film Festival says its 79th edition runs from May 12 to May 23, 2026. (festival-cannes.com) The festival’s awards page says the 2026 winners will be announced online on Saturday, May 23, during the closing ceremony. That is the next fixed date for “All of a Sudden,” Hamaguchi and the rest of the competition field. (festival-cannes.com)