''Universal Language'' (, ) is a 2024 Canadian absurdist comedy-drama film, co-written and directed by

Matthew Rankin Matthew Rankin is a Canadian experimental filmmaker. He is most noted for his 2014 film ''Mynarski Death Plummet'', which was a shortlisted Canadian Screen Award nominee for Best Live Action Short Drama at the 4th Canadian Screen Awards and a sho ...

. It received positive reviews from critics and was named one of the top 5 international films of 2024 by the

National Board of Review The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures is a non-profit organization of New York City area film enthusiasts. Its awards, which are announced in early December, are considered an early harbinger of the film awards season that culminat ...

. The film was selected as the Canadian entry for

Best International Feature Film The Academy Award for Best International Feature Film (known as Best Foreign Language Film prior to 2020) is one of the Academy Awards handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to ...

at the

97th Academy Awards The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment in ...

. It had a

limited release __FORCETOC__ Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few theaters across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unit ...

on February 25, 2025, through

Oscilloscope Laboratories Oscilloscope Laboratories is an independent film company and distributor founded by Adam Yauch Adam Nathaniel Yauch ( ; August 5, 1964 – May 4, 2012), better known under the stage name MCA, was an American rapper, bass player, filmmaker and ...

Plot

Described as a "surreal comedy of disorientation" set "somewhere between

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the Capital city, capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is th ...

and

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749 ...

", the film blends the seemingly unrelated stories of Negin and Nazgol, who find money frozen in ice and try to claim it; Massoud, a tour guide in Winnipeg who is leading a confused and disoriented tour group; and Matthew (Rankin), who quits his unfulfilling job with the seceded federal government of

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Government of Canada, Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is ...

and travels home to Winnipeg to visit his mother.Melanie Goodfellow
"Best Friend Forever Boards Sales On Cannes Directors’ Fortnight Title ‘Universal Language’; Oscilloscope Takes U.S. Rights"
''

Deadline Hollywood ''Deadline Hollywood'', commonly known as ''Deadline'' and also referred to as ''Deadline.com'', is an online news site founded as the news blog ''Deadline Hollywood Daily'' by Nikki Finke in 2006. The site is updated several times a day, w ...

'', April 16, 2024.

Cast

* Rojina Esmaeili as Negin * Saba Vahedyousefi as Nazgol * Sobhan Javadi as Omid * Pirouz Nemati as Massoud *

Mani Soleymanlou Mani may refer to: Geography * Maní, Casanare, a town and municipality in Casanare Department, Colombia * Mani, Chad, a town and sub-prefecture in Chad * Mani, Evros, a village in northeastern Greece * Mani, Karnataka, a village in Dakshina K ...

as Iraj Bilodeau *

Danielle Fichaud Danielle Fichaud (born April 13, 1954) is a Canadian actress from Quebec. She is most noted for her performance in the 2021 film '' Aline'', for which she was a César Award nominee for Best Supporting Actress at the 47th César Awards and a Pri ...

as Monsieur Castonguay * Matthew Rankin as Matthew

Release

The film had its world premiere in the

Directors' Fortnight The Directors' Fortnight (french: Quinzaine des Réalisateurs) is an independent selection of the Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and kn ...

section of the

77th Cannes Film Festival The 77th annual Cannes Film Festival is an upcoming film festival due to take place from 14 to 25 May 2024. American filmmaker and actress Greta Gerwig Greta Celeste Gerwig (; born August 4, 1983) is an American actress, screenwriter, and d ...

on May 18, 2024, and had its North American premiere at the 49th Toronto International Film Festival. It also screened as the opening film of the

2024 Festival du nouveau cinéma The 2024 edition of the Festival du nouveau cinéma, the 53rd edition in the event's history, took place from October 9 to 20, 2024 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The festival's opening film was ''Universal Language (Une langue universelle)'' by Ma ...

, in the Currents section of the 62nd New York Film Festival, and the

MAMI Mumbai Film Festival 2024 The MAMI Mumbai Film Festival 2024 took place between 19 and 24 October 2024 in Mumbai, India. It was the first edition of the festival under interim festival director Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, following the departure of Anupama Chopra from the ...

under the World Cinema section, where it was screened together with ''An Urban Allegory'' by

Alice Rohrwacher Alice Rohrwacher (, ; born 29 December 1980) is an Italian film director, editor and screenwriter. Her film ''Le pupille'' was nominated for Oscar in 2023 in short film categories. Early life Rohrwacher was born in Fiesole, in Tuscany, to an ...

and JR. It had a

in the United States on February 25, 2025, through

Reception

Critical response

Fionnuala Halligan of ''

Screen Daily ''Screen International'' is a British film magazine covering the international film business. It is published by Media Business Insight, a British B2B media company. The magazine is primarily aimed at those involved in the global film business. ...

'' wrote: "''Universal Language'' is doggedly eccentric, something that’s mirrored in its exaggerated aesthetic. There’s a pink cowboy-hatted singing turkey-shop worker; a man wandering around wearing a lit Christmas tree over his body; an absurdist bingo hall where men and women are interchangeable. Inside a pharmacy, all the labels are a generic

Adam Stockhausen Adam Stockhausen is an American production designer known for his collaborations with Wes Anderson, Steven Spielberg, and Steve McQueen. He's received four nominations for the Academy Award for Best Production Design winning for '' The Grand Bud ...

tribute — only they're beige. There’s also a '

Kleenex Kleenex is a brand name for a variety of paper-based products such as facial tissue, bathroom tissue, paper towels, tampons, and diapers. Often used informally as a genericized trademark for facial tissue in the United States and Canada, the na ...

repository' and reference made to a 'Winnipeg Earmuff Authority'. Sad-eyed characters say things like: 'My son choked to death in a marshmallow-eating contest,' or 'she was flattened in a steamrolling accident'. You could call it whimsical. Absurdist. Contrived. Or an unexpectedly unusual concept album that doesn't quite come off but was worth the effort. And you would be correct every time." Writing for ''

IndieWire IndieWire (sometimes stylized as indieWIRE or Indiewire) is a film industry and review website that was established in 1996. The site's focus was predominantly independent film, although its coverage has grown to "to include all aspects of Holl ...

'', David Ehrlich noted that the film "is first and foremost a testament to the shared artifice of all filmic storytelling, and to the singular realities it’s able to bring alive in turn." In ''

Vulture A vulture is a bird of prey that scavenges on carrion. There are 23 extant species of vulture (including Condors). Old World vultures include 16 living species native to Europe, Africa, and Asia; New World vultures are restricted to North a ...

'',

Bilge Ebiri Bilge Ebiri (; born 1973) is an English-born American journalist and filmmaker. His first feature film, a comedy thriller entitled ''New Guy'', was released in 2004. Early life and education Ebiri studied film at Yale University where his thesis ...

called the film the best he had seen at Cannes and "a magnificent film, one that feels warm and familiar even as we realize just how startlingly original it is." The film was named to TIFF's annual

Canada's Top Ten Canada's Top Ten is an annual honour, compiled by the Toronto International Film Festival and announced in December each year to identify and promote the year's best Canadian films."Canada's Top Ten awards will honour excellence in Canadian cinema". ...

list for 2024.Carlos Diaz
"Canada’s Top Ten: TIFF Celebrates the Best in Cinema for 2024"
''That Shelf'', January 8, 2025.

Awards

References

External links

* {{TFCA Award for Best Canadian Film 2024 films 2024 comedy-drama films Canadian comedy-drama films Absurdist fiction Films directed by Matthew Rankin 2020s French-language films 2020s Persian-language films 2020s Canadian films French-language Canadian films Films set in Winnipeg Films shot in Winnipeg Films shot in 16 mm film Canadian multilingual films