''The Last Face'' is a 2016 American

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super- ...

directed by

Sean Penn Sean Justin Penn (born August 17, 1960) is an American actor and film director. He has won two Academy Awards, for his roles in the mystery drama ''Mystic River'' (2003) and the biopic ''Milk'' (2008). Penn began his acting career in televisi ...

and written by

Erin Dignam Erin Dignam (born July 20, 1955) is an American film director, screenwriter and former professional tennis player. A native of California, Dignam qualified for the singles main draw of the 1977 Wimbledon Championships. Dignam directed and wrote ...

. The film stars

Charlize Theron Charlize Theron ( ; ; born 7 August 1975) is a South African and American actress and producer. One of the world's highest-paid actresses, she is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award. In 20 ...

, Javier Bardem,

Adèle Exarchopoulos Adèle Exarchopoulos (; born 22 November 1993 in Paris) is a French actress. She is best known for her leading role as Adèle in ''Blue Is the Warmest Colour'' (2013), for which she earned international attention and critical acclaim; at the 201 ...

, and Jean Reno. It was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the

2016 Cannes Film Festival The 69th Cannes Film Festival was held from 11 to 22 May 2016. Australian director George Miller was the President of the Jury for the main competition. French actor Laurent Lafitte was the host for the opening and closing ceremonies. On 15 Marc ...

, debuting to generally poor reviews. The film was released on

DirecTV DirecTV (trademarked as DIRECTV) is an American multichannel video programming distributor based in El Segundo, California. Originally launched on June 17, 1994, its primary service is a digital satellite service serving the United States. I ...

on June 29, 2017, before being released on video on demand and in theaters on July 28, 2017, by Saban Films.

Plot

Wren Peterson is a physician and activist working in West Africa with the organization

Doctors of the World Doctor or The Doctor may refer to: Personal titles * Doctor (title), the holder of an accredited academic degree * A medical practitioner, including: ** Physician ** Surgeon ** Dentist ** Veterinary physician ** Optometrist *Other role ...

that her late father started many years ago. She is happy to lead the organization, but frequently finds herself negatively comparing herself to her father's achievements. During 2003 Wren meets Miguel, a handsome surgeon who has also devoted himself to treating people from impoverished and war-torn sections of the world. The two fall in love but Wren soon discovers that Miguel has had a prior sexual relationship with her cousin, which contributes to the decay of their relationship.

Cast

as Wren Petersen * Javier Bardem as Miguel Leon *

as Ellen * Jean Reno as Dr. Love * Jared Harris as Dr. John Farber *

Sibongile Mlambo Sibongile Mlambo is a Zimbabwean actress based in the United States. She is known for starring in Netflix’s ''Lost in Space'', the Starz historical adventure television series '' Black Sails'' and in films ''Honey 3'' and ''The Last Face''. She ...

as Assatu * Merritt Wever as Marlee

Production

On April 10, 2014, it was announced

would direct the film, with

and Javier Bardem set to star in the film.

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as ...

began on August 1, 2014, in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

Release

The film premiered at the

on May 20, 2016. On September 8, 2016, Saban Films acquired U.S distribution rights to the film. The film was released on

on June 29, 2017, before being released on video on demand and in theaters on July 28, 2017, by Saban Films.

Reception

The reception for ''The Last Face'' at Cannes was very negative and ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

'' reported that the film was booed during its screening. The film holds a rating of 8% on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

, based on 49 reviews, with an average rating of 3/10. The site's critics' consensus reads: "''The Last Face'''s noble intentions are nowhere near enough to carry a fundamentally misguided story that arguably demeans the demographic it wants to defend." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, the film has a weighted average score of 16 out of 100, based on 20 critics, indicating "overwhelming dislike". ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly large ...

'' panned the film, writing "A backdrop of Third World atrocity, suffering and merciless human-rights violations serves as the canvas for a faux-profound Hollywood love story in Sean Penn's stunningly self-important but numbingly empty cocktail of romance and insulting refugee porn, ''The Last Face''." ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'' and ''

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...

'' were equally dismissive, with ''The Guardian'' commenting that "

and Javier Bardem give career worst performances as doctors falling in love in west Africa while black characters are relegated to the background".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Last Face, The 2016 films 2016 drama films 2010s English-language films American drama films Films directed by Sean Penn Films scored by Hans Zimmer Films set in the 2000s Films set in Liberia Films set in Sierra Leone Films shot in South Africa River Road Entertainment films Saban Films films 2010s American films