May 2026 opens under the sign of Cannes. The festival begins on May 12 – and the entire month feels marked by it, with releases that all seem to exist in conversation with the great gathering on the Croisette. Almodóvar in competition, Salvadori opening the festival, Javier Bardem and Marina Foïs in a quiet and powerful Spanish drama. French cinema, meanwhile, explores its own tensions – the 2020s seen from a theatre stage, or from a suburban school on October 16, 2020.
Here are the films not to miss in May.
Release dates may be subject to change by distributors.
May 6
The Criminals – David Mackenzie
With Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Theo James, Sam Worthington
An unexploded WWII bomb is discovered on a London construction site. The ensuing mass evacuation becomes the perfect opportunity for a heist. David Mackenzie, director of Hell or High Water, returns to the tight, well-written thriller. Taylor-Johnson is exactly where he belongs.
Pour le plaisir (For Pleasure) – Reem Kherici
With Alexandra Lamy, François Cluzet
Fanny and Tom, married for 20 years, see their equilibrium shatter when Fanny reveals she has never had an orgasm. Tom, an engineer, decides to rise to the challenge. French mainstream comedy carried by a Lamy/Cluzet duo that knows exactly what it is doing.
C’est quoi l’amour ? – Fabien Gorgeart
With Laure Calamy, Vincent Macaigne
Marguerite agrees to her ex-husband’s request to annul their church marriage – and finds herself swept into an investigation of her own past. Grand Prix winner at the Alpe d’Huez comedy festival. Two actors who never miss when well directed.
Mi Amor – Guillaume Nicloux
With Pom Klementieff, Benoît Magimel, Astrid Bergès-Frisbey
Romy travels to the Canary Islands to DJ at a techno party. By dawn, her friend has vanished. A film of disappearance, atmosphere and restless bodies – Nicloux’s territory, where genre films become something more unsettled.
May 12 – Cannes Opening
La Vénus électrique – Pierre Salvadori ⭐ Cannes 2026 Opening Film
With Gilles Lellouche, Charlotte Le Bon, Pio Marmai
Paris, the 1920s. Antoine can no longer paint since the death of his wife Irène – a death he believes he caused. Drunk one evening, he tries to contact her through a fortune teller, and ends up speaking to Suzanne, a traveling performer who improvises her way through the séance. Salvadori (In Bed with Victoria, Priceless) returns with a burlesque and touching dramatic comedy, chosen to open Cannes 2026. One of the most anticipated films of the month.
May 13
L’Abandon – Vincent Garenq
With Antoine Reinartz, Emmanuelle Bercot – Out of competition, Cannes 2026
On October 16, 2020, Samuel Paty was murdered outside his school. Everyone knows the name – few know the man. Garenq revisits his final eleven days, drawing on the investigation and trials. Shot in complete secrecy, announced hours after the verdict of the appeal trial. A film that chooses the human portrait over judicial reconstruction. Antoine Reinartz carries it.
May 16
El Ser Querido – Rodrigo Sorogoyen
With Javier Bardem, Marina Foïs, Malena Villa – Cannes 2026 Competition
A celebrated director and his daughter, an actress who has never broken through, shoot a film together after years of distance and a difficult past neither wants to talk about. Sorogoyen (As Bestas) films in France with Bardem and Foïs – a combination that commands attention.
May 20
The Mandalorian & Grogu – Dave Filoni
With Pedro Pascal
The first Star Wars film drawn directly from the Mandalorian series. Mando and Grogu on the big screen – for fans, the event of the summer starts here.
Autofiction – Pedro Almodóvar ⭐ Cannes 2026 Competition
With Bárbara Lennie, Leonardo Sbaraglia, Aitana Sánchez-Gijón
Raúl is a cult filmmaker in full creative crisis. When tragedy strikes one of his closest collaborators, he uses it as material for his next film. Almodóvar in meta and intimate mode, at 74, still in competition at Cannes. Spanish cinema’s enduring loyalty to the festival.
Hitler’s Tasters – Silvio Soldini
Historical drama
In the final years of the Nazi regime, young women are recruited to taste Hitler’s food before he eats it – in case it has been poisoned. An unprecedented angle on the machinery of totalitarian power.
May 27
Le Concert des accusations – Agnès Jaoui
With Daniel Auteuil, Agnès Jaoui, Eye Haidara
Backstage at an ambitious production of The Marriage of Figaro, a sexual assault accusation erupts and fractures the company. Jaoui reunites with Auteuil for a film about generational conflicts and taking sides in the world of culture. A burning subject handled by someone who knows how to write dialogue.
Le Virtuose (The Virtuoso) – Daniel Roher
Documentary
A young piano tuner with exceptional hearing finds his life upended when his talent attracts the attention of criminals who draw him into increasingly dangerous burglaries. Roher, the Oscar-winning director of Navalny, shifts register with this thriller-adjacent portrait.
Mata – Rachel Lang
Spy thriller
Mata, a French intelligence agent wounded during a clandestine operation in Niger, loses track of her captured companion. Back in France, she is assigned a counter-espionage mission in the Alps. French spy thriller arriving at a moment when the genre is finding its footing in French cinema.
Cannes 2026 opens May 12. Jury president: Park Chan-wook. Opening film: La Vénus électrique. For the full official selection, see our dedicated article on the blog.
