The rumour mill is currently in overdrive in Paris as everyone attempts to predict the identities of the French candidates likely to world-premiere in competition at the 82nd Venice Film Festival (27 August-6 September), just six days away from the unveiling of the official selection by Alberto Barbera (whose mandate will come to an end in 2026) on 22 July.

Allegedly in pole position for this year’s Mostra, where the competition line-up will likely not be lacking in English-language movies, is The Wizard of the Kremlin by Olivier Assayas (see the article – with US actor Paul Dano, Brit Jude Law and Sweden’s Alicia Vikander among the cast), who would be taking part in the Venice competition for the fourth time in his career, after doing so in 2012, 2018 and 2019.

Also allegedly well placed to join the race for the Golden Lion is À pied d’oeuvre by Valérie Donzelli (see the article – toplined by Bastien Bouillon), who would be treading the Lido for the first time.

Two other titles in a strong position would be Deux pianos by Arnaud Desplechin (toplined by François Civil and Nadia Tereszkiewicz), who has only taken part in the Venice competition once (in 2004), and L’étranger by François Ozon (an adaptation of the famous Albert Camus novel, starring Benjamin Voisin, Swann Arlaud, Pierre Lottin, Rebecca Marder and Denis Lavant), who has partaken in the competition on the Lido three times already (in 2004, 2010 and 2016).