Emma Stone’s "Kinds of Kindness" Gets 4.5-Minute Standing Ovation in Cannes

Yorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone’s latest collaboration “Kinds of Kindness” freaked out the 77 Cannes Film Festival on Friday night with an anthology of stories about cannibalism and general debauchery.

The pair’s follow-up to “Poor Things” earned a 4.5-minute standing ovation, with the director and his cast — including Jesse Plemons, Willem Dafoe, Margaret Qualley, Hong Chau and Joe Alwyn — leaving while the applause was still going. 

“Kinds of Kindness” tells three distinctive stories with cast members playing different roles in each. There were a few walkouts during the Cannes premiere, most of them coming after the film’s gorier, second chapter. Lanthimos abruptly left the screening and didn’t speak to audience members once the clapping stopped.

The film, like many of Lanthimos’ avant-garde offerings, overflows with outré plot twists as well as some outrageous moments — like Chau licking sweat off her followers as part of a cult ritual, a man who becomes convinced his wife is a pod person, and of course, Stone’s epic breakdance moves and positively reckless driving. Some parts aren’t for the faint of stomach, as well as a sprinkle of mutilations and graphic violence that might upset the squeamish. Intermixed throughout is Lanthimos’ absurdist humor, much of which the Cannes crowd seemed to enjoy, laughing at some of the more bizarre sequences.

The stars came out in force on the red carpet before the movie’s grand screening. Lanthimos was flanked by Stone, his Oscar-winning “Poor Things” star, along with Dafoe (another “Poor Things” alum), Plemons, Alwyn, Chau, Mamoudou Athie and Qualley. 

Lanthimos is no stranger to the Palais des Festivals, having previously premiered the likes of “The Lobster” and “The Killing of a Sacred Deer” at Cannes. 

However, his more recent offerings, like “The Favourite” and “Poor Things,” both bowed at the Venice Film Festival, which served as a launching pad for their successful awards season runs. 

Searchlight Pictures, which released both films, will debut “Kinds of Kindness” on June 21.

“Kinds of Kindness” is one of the highest-profile debuts at a festival that has already seen the bows of “Furiousa,” George Miller’s “Mad Max: Fury Road,” and Francis Ford Coppola’s “Megalopolis”.