The Wave

Sebastián Lelio returns with an audacious Cannes-premiering musical inspired by Chilean student protests in the wake of #MeToo. It’s 2018, and a movement denouncing sexual harassment is gaining traction at universities all over Chile. Julia, a music student in Santiago, is inspired to join the resistance, volunteering for her university’s testimonials committee. As she spends time recording survivors’ stories, Julia fixates on a confusing sexual experience of her own with her vocal coach’s assistant, Max. When her testimony gets swept up in the euphoric wave of the movement, Julia finds herself becoming an unexpected central figure of the protests. Set to an irresistibly catchy score composed by Matthew Herbert – his fifth feature collaboration with director Sebastián Lelio (A Fantastic Woman, MIFF 2017) – and 17 female Chilean musicians, The Wave is a swelling, pulsing, defiant spectacle, dynamically shot by Benjamín Echazarreta and staging dance numbers with hundreds of performers. Zooming out from one woman’s experience to explore the dynamics of political organising more broadly, Lelio’s galvanising rally cry is an unapologetically maximalist treatise on misogynistic violence and the failures of institutions to protect survivors, imbued with surrealistic flourishes and metatextual moments. “The Wave manages to be both a toe-tapper and, when necessary, a Brechtian exploration of activism and its complexities.” –RogerEbert.com