An introduction to Rumours
Rachel Patton introduced our screening of Rumours (Maddin, Johnson and Johnson 2024) in February 2026. The film gained many laughs, but still divided the audience! Our audience gave Rumours an average rating of 3.5 stars.
Tonight’s film, Rumours, was co-written and directed by Canadian film-makers Guy Maddin and brothers Evan and Galen Johnson in 2024. This trio’s films (e.g. The Forbidden Room and The Green Fog) have been described as unusual, genre-bending arthouse movies. It was Guy Maddin’s involvement that lured leading actor Cate Blanchett to come on board.
Filmed in both Hungary and in Winnipeg in Canada, Rumours follows a group of fictional World Leaders meeting in Germany for a G7 summit. Described on Roger Ebert’s website as both “a sharp satire on world politics” and “cleverly entertaining”, the film makes clear comment on these Global meetings of world leaders and on the motivations and effectiveness of the leaders themselves.
Australia’s own Cate Blanchett leads the cast playing Hilda, the German Chancellor; she won a Best Performance award at the Canadian Screen Awards for her role. Parallels can be seen between some of the fictional world leaders and their real world counterparts. Blanchett’s character is said to mirror Angela Merkel’s hairdo and tailored blazers and there are also said to be shades of Joe Biden (in the American president played by Charles Dance with, for reasons unknown, his own English accent) and Emmanuel Macron.
The film is ultimately about those in power and what motivates them, but coupled with a satirical critique of global politics, it is a bizarre blend of comedy and horror. Blanchett herself stated that, “Because the film is ridiculous and terrifying ... I think [the audience] will be able to laugh at the absurdity of the situation we find ourselves in.”
This unconventional film has been described as both nail-biting and hilarious, as well as weird, surreal, “murky, muddy and strange”. It’s been billed as “biting satire” and as “wildly entertaining”. We hope that the latter description is the one that resonates with you most tonight and look forward to hearing your thoughts after the film!
Further reading
Cate Blanchett wants you to laugh at politics in Rumours - Kaitlyn Huamani, The Independent, 16 Oct 2024
Rumours (review) - Brian Tallerico, RogerEgbert.com, 16 Oct 2024
Circle Jerk: An Interview with Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson and Galen Johnson - Charles Carrall, Rough Cut, 5 Dec 2024
Rumours review - close encounters for Cate Blanchett and the magnificent G7 - Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian, 6 Dec 2024
In Guy Maddin's latest film, Rumours, Cate Blanchett gets to flex her comedic muscle as host of a bamboozled G7 summit - Luke Goodsell, ABC, 10 Dec 2024
Guy Maddin (Wikipedia)