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That of Paul Schrader Oh, Canadathe new drama that reunites the director with his American Gigalo star Richard Gere, had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on Friday evening, where it was greeted with a more than three-minute standing ovation for Schrader and his team at the Théâtre de la Grande Lumière. With typically Canadian politeness, the crowd even applauded the film’s producers.

Before the premiere, Schrader and the cast of Oh, Canada, including Richard Gere and Uma Thurman, but not Jacob Elordi, had climbed the steps of the Palais red carpet to the sound of the Canadian national anthem. Among the famous faces in the theater audience was Nathalie Emmanuel.

While the creative team received a warm reception, the film itself was less warmly received, with only polite applause and a cursory ovation for Schrader and his cast. But there was a round of whoops and cheers, and at least one “well done!” was heard.

A visibly emotional Schrader kept his comments short, thanking his actors and noting that whatever he had to say, writer Russell Banks (author of the book on which the film is based) had said it first, and he was just repeating it. “It’s very nice to come back to the Croisette! Schrader said before walking out.

The film was Schrader’s first appearance in the Cannes competition since 1988. Patty Hearst. In recent years, the director, who started as a screenwriter for Martin Scorsese, with screenplays for Taxi driver And furious bullunveiled his works in Venice, including First Reformed (2017), The card counter (2021), and The master gardener (2022).

Schrader also arrived on the Croisette with the 1985s Mishima: A life in four chapterswho won the special prize for best artistic contribution from the Cannes jury.

Oh, Canada is sold by Arclight Films and WME Independent. Arclight secured a French deal for the film with local distributor ARP ahead of the festival.