- Ex-Stasi officer faces verdict over 1974 Berlin border killing
- Role of government, poverty research tipped for economics Nobel
- In milestone, SpaceX 'catches' megarocket booster after test flight
- In a first, SpaceX 'catches' megarocket booster after test flight
- Bangladeshi Hindus shrug off attack worries to celebrate festival
- Ubisoft fears assassin's hit over falling sales
- Vietnam, China hold talks on calming South China Sea tensions
- SpaceX will try to 'catch' giant Starship rocket shortly before landing
- Japan's former empress Michiko discharged after surgery: reports
- Japan's former empress Michiko discharged after surgey: reports
- 'Little Gregory' murder haunts France 40 years on
- Tariffs, tax cuts, energy: What is in Trump's economic plan?
- Amazon wants to be everything to everyone
- Jewish school in Canada hit by gunfire for second time
- With medical report Harris seeks to play health card against Trump
- China-EU EV tariff talks in Brussels end with 'major differences': Beijing
- Buried Nazi past haunts Athens on liberation anniversary
- Harris to release medical report confirming fitness for presidency: campaign
- Nobel prize a timely reminder, Hiroshima locals say
- China offers $325 bn in fiscal stimulus for ailing economy
- Small Quebec company dominates one part of NHL hockey: jerseys
- Boeing to cut 10% of workforce as it sees big Q3 loss
- Want to film in Paris? No sexism allowed
- US, European markets rise as investors weigh rates, earnings
- In Colombia, children trade plastic waste for school supplies
- JPMorgan Chase profits top estimates, bank sees 'resilient' US economy
- Little progress at key meet ahead of COP29 climate summit
- 'Party atmosphere': Skygazers treated to another aurora show
- Kyrgyzstan opens rare probe into glacier destruction
- European Mediterranean states discuss Middle East, migration
- Thunberg leads pro-Palestinian, climate protest in Milan
- Stock markets diverge before China weekend briefing
- EU questions shopping app Temu over illegal products risk
- Han Kang's books sell out in South Korea after Nobel win
- Shanghai markets sink ahead of briefing on mixed day for Asia
- Investors, analysts eye bigger China stimulus at Saturday briefing
- Musk unveils robotaxi, pledges it 'before 2027'
- At least 11 dead in Florida but Hurricane Milton not as bad as feared
- Asian markets mixed after Wall St drop, Shanghai dips before briefing
- Automaker Stellantis says CEO will retire in 2026
- Musk's promised robotaxi unveil delayed
- On US coast, wind power foes embrace 'Save the Whales' argument
- At least 10 dead in Florida after Hurricane Milton spawns tornadoes
- Internet Archive reels from 'catastrophic' cyberattack, data breach
- Wall Street stocks retreat from records on US inflation data
- Israel strikes central Beirut, killing 22
- Solar storm could impact US hurricane recovery efforts: agency
- Delta eyes Election Day travel pullback as profits climb
- Florida battered by hurricane, floods but spared 'worst-case scenario'
- UK's William and Kate in first joint public engagement since cancer treatment
Dark, lustful and complex: It's a woman's world at Cannes
From a sex offender to far-from-perfect mothers and girls unabashedly exploring their sexuality, this year's Cannes Film Festival has thrown out the stereotype of the one-dimensional female character.
Cinema has long stood accused of ignoring women's inner lives and complexities, or telling a story through the male gaze.
However, men and their opinions were relegated to a secondary role in many films at the world's leading industry shindig.
In "May December", Julianne Moore plays a woman who had a sexual relationship with a 13-year-old boy -- now her husband -- and is in denial years later over her wrongdoing.
A loving mother, but also a registered sex offender, the film sees her character grappling with buried crimes, in the role alongside Natalie Portman.
"The entire range of human behaviour should be accessible to women because women are simply humans," said Portman, who loves to see women "behave in morally ambiguous ways".
"It always drives me crazy when people are like, oh, if only women rule the world, it would be a kinder place. No, women are humans and come in all different complexities."
This year Cannes boasts a record seven female directors in the official competition for the Palme D'Or prize -- and some films barely focus on men at all.
Even in "Firebrand", starring Jude Law as a repulsive King Henry VIII, the spotlight is on his sixth wife Catherine Parr as she struggles to avoid the fate of her predecessors.
- Multi-faceted mothers -
In "Homecoming", by French director Catherine Corsini, a black woman returns to Corsica with her two daughters years after fleeing the French island in a hurry.
As they explore their mysterious past, her teenage daughters -- even the model student -- experiment with crime, drugs and sexuality.
At the same time, the complexity of motherhood, sacrifice and the decision to lie to your children all run under the surface.
Cannes cinemagoers also got an unusual glimpse into the lives of women from countries where they are often portrayed as merely oppressed and conservative.
In "Four Daughters", Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania made a hybrid film-documentary about a real mother, Olfa Hamrouni, whose two daughters joined the Islamic State group.
Hamrouni is at times sympathetic and at times repulsive as she recounts her own violence towards her daughters.
She is seen joking about her awful ex-husband, yearning for affection, yet intolerant when she overhears her daughters giggle about kissing boys or exploring their bodies.
"I wanted to show how women have internalised some patriarchal reflexes," Ben Hania told AFP.
In "Goodbye Julia" -- not in the main competition -- male director Mohamed Kordofani confronted his own sexism and racism as he put women at the forefront of a story about war in Sudan.
The movie explores the complex friendship between a black woman from pre-independence southern Sudan and an Arab woman from the north with an overbearing conservative husband.
"I started to review how I was behaving in my previous relationships. I reviewed my own racism," Kordofani told AFP.
- 'How to Have Sex' -
Elsewhere at Cannes, British director Molly Manning Walker took a nuanced look at sexual assault and consent in her feature debut "How to Have Sex" on a judgement-free alcohol-fuelled girls trip abroad.
"For me consent isn't black and white, it's not yes and no... if someone is having a bad time you should be able to recognise that," she said.
One Cannes showing that drew scorn for its portrayal of sexuality was new HBO series "The Idol" and its graphic raunchy scenes, directed by "Euphoria" creator Sam Levinson.
While the main character, played by Lily-Rose Depp, is portrayed as a complex character exploring her sexuality, some critics did not buy it.
Variety slammed its "tawdry cliches" and said the show "plays like a sordid male fantasy.
"One could argue there's something revolutionary in the way Levinson depicts female sexuality... but Levinson takes things too far in the other direction."
Y.Jeong--CPN