OVERVIEW
Nora (Hafsia Herzi) and her husband Thomas lead a normal life with their daughter, Ida, in a remote Limousin marshland. Sensing that Nora is too stressed with work, Thomas organizes a party for her fortieth birthday, inviting a few people from Nora’s work, along with their only neighbor, an Italian painter named Cristina (Monica Bellucci). A few moments before the party, three uninvited men arrive, led by Franck (Benoît Magimel), carrying a grudge from Nora’s hidden past.
BACKGROUND
The movie is an adaptation of Laurent Mauvignier’s novel Histoires de la nuit, published in the crowded 2020 rentrée littéraire and quickly singled out as one of the season’s major novels. It is a departure for its director, Léa Mysius, whose earlier films Ava and The Five Devils established her in dreamlike, sensory cinema, and who is now challenged to adapt a book with little action. The film also marks Mysius’s first selection in the Cannes Competition, following earlier appearances in Critics’ Week and Directors’ Fortnight. It entered the 79th edition, weighted heavily toward French production, and occupied the final slot in the 22-film Competition, the festival’s last world premiere. Before its release, it was frequently described as a female version of A History of Violence.
THE REVIEW
Despite the comparison to David Cronenberg’s film, The Birthday Party feels much closer to a home-invasion thriller that would premiere on a streamer. It is more accomplished than the usual movie of the week, the kind that lands in the top ten for a few days and then disappears for good, but in the end, it leaves about as little behind as those films do.
Judged purely in entertainment value, it has its strengths. Mysius’ direction builds suspense throughout the first act, paying it off when the intruders finally appear. The script keeps us guessing about Nora, and so does the camera, which always frames her at a distance, while the editing cuts her scenes shorter than they should be. Small things like her more-worried-than-it-seems reaction to her daughter’s TikTok post, or Thomas’s determination to make the birthday a success, suggest something beneath the seemingly normal surface. Also complementing these early scenes well is Florencia Di Concilio’s score, which uses metallic percussion and plucked strings to keep audiences on edge, even when we are simply watching a woman go to work and a man arrange a surprise birthday party.
It takes a little time for the danger to manifest, but that buildup is the film’s most accomplished aspect. The three intruders are introduced one by one, each arrival deepening the sense of danger. Flo’s (Paul Hamy) first encounter with Cristina (Monica Bellucci) is especially effective. By the time Franck finally appears, it is clear that all the characters are in grave danger. The contrast between that threat and Benoît Magimel’s charismatic screen presence makes him even more dangerous.
As a thriller, it is straightforward but entertaining, with a few moments of true nail-biting suspense and a few crowd-pleasing ones. As a character study, though, it frustrates, especially in how it wastes the interesting aspects of its script, both in the backstory of its characters, which is hinted at but never fully explored, and in how fast it wants to resolve the plot, skimming through real consequences. It hints at a similar question that The Drama raised earlier this year, about how much someone’s history should shape the way you love them now, but it never follows that thread anywhere worthwhile. All the cast could have used another scene or two expanding on their characters. But even with these limitations, the performances and Mysius’s direction keep us hooked, making us wish the script had given them more.
FINAL THOUGHTS
The Birthday Party offers efficient genre thrills, well-acted and sleekly directed, keeping your attention and building anticipation for an explosion that never quite arrives. It hints at deeper themes but is not very interested in exploring them. I liked it for what it was, and for closing the Cannes 2026 competition on a lighter note, even though I would argue that a similarly entertaining but stronger French film (Karma) would have been a better candidate. There is one genuine shock and a crowd-pleasing scene that had the Cannes audience clapping, yet the film as a whole leaves very little behind once it is over. Not the most memorable party, but a passable one.