All about Cannes' most controversial title The Idol, starring Johnny Depp's daughter; shows nudity, graphic sex, abuse

Every year at the Cannes Film Festival, there is inevitably one film that is often described by the press as ‘controversial’. There was atime when that film invariably belonged to Lars von Trier. Before him, Gaspar Noé shocked audiences and jury with Irreversible. But it has almost become a rite of passage for the festival to be treated to a film that leaves people either queamish or disturbed. This year, that honour goes to a show and not a film – director Sam Levinson’s (he of Euphoria fame) The Idol.

What is the Idol about?

The series premiered at Cannes on Tuesday night and received a five-minute standing ovation. Starring Johnny Depp’s daughter Lily-Rose Depp and marking Abel "The Weeknd" Tesfaye’s acting debut, the show follows the complex relationship of a down-and-out aspiring pop star and a self-help guru and cult leader.

What is so controversial in The Idol?

The standing ovation apart, the show has divided critics and audiences with the first reviews praising the show but criticising the ‘excessive’ focus on sex, Lily-Rose’s explicit nude scenes and certain sequences involving graphic depictions of sex and abuse. A Variety article states that the show’s first two episodes are populated by ‘revenge porn photos of bodily fluids on Depp’s face, masturbation with ice cubes, nightclub-owning scam artists, and vile Hollywood sycophants’. In her review, Lovia Gyarke of The Hollywood Reporter wrote, “The Idol shows glimmers of potential when it stops trying so hard to be shocking. There’s a strenuousness to the sex scenes between Depp and Tesfaye that kills any sense of eroticism.” The bottomline is that the sex and nudity disturbs more than it titilates, according to some at least.

There were also accusations that the filming of the series was done in a ‘toxic’ environment, something that HBO vehemently denied. In a statement, the network said that the ‘creative team has been committed to creating a safe, collaborative, and mutually respectful working environment’. Lily-Rose Depp also defended directed Sam Levinson and the team from these accusations.

When and where to watch The Idol?

The Idol had its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, making it the first TV series to be screened there. The series has been created by Tesfaye and is scheduled to release on HBO on June 4. While most HBO titles are set to release in India on Jio Cinemas courtesy a partnership between the two, there is no official word on when The Idol will stream in India