- The primary critiques of HBO’s “The Idol” have arrived after the sequence’ debut at Cannes Movie Pageant.
- Critics referred to as the present “a sordid male fantasy” attributable to its specific intercourse scenes.
- “The Idol,” by “Euphoria” creator Sam Levinson, stars Lily-Rose Depp and Tesfaye “The Weeknd” Abel.
HBO’s newest drama, “The Idol,” has been surrounded by controversy for fairly a while, with a Rolling Stone report in March likening it to “torture porn” after it underwent a serious artistic overhaul following the departure of director Amy Seimetz.
The present, from “Euphoria” creator Sam Levinson, stars Lily-Rose Depp as a massively profitable pop star who falls right into a harmful relationship with mysterious nightclub proprietor — and doable cult chief — Tedros, performed by Tesfaye “The Weeknd” Abel.
However now that “The Idol” has screened to audiences at Cannes Movie Pageant, the place it had its world premiere Monday evening, the controversy continues, as the primary critiques from critics tore into the present for its specific intercourse scenes, which embody photographs of Depp coated in bodily fluids.
Selection reported that the primary two episodes embody “revenge porn images of bodily fluids on Depp’s face, masturbation with ice cubes, nightclub-owning rip-off artists and vile Hollywood sycophants.”
Lily-Rose Depp on the premiere of “The Idol” through the 76th Cannes Movie Pageant.
Stephane Cardinale/Corbis by way of Getty Photographs
Selection critic Peter Debruge referred to as the present “a sordid male fantasy” in his evaluate, writing: “Levinson’s worldview appears corrupt. It shouldn’t take degradation and struggling to make Jocelyn stronger. ‘Euphoria’ audiences received’t be too stunned by the shameful approach he treats Depp’s character, as each she and the present seem trapped beneath The Weeknd’s thumb.”
For The Hollywood Reporter, Lovia Gyarkye referred to as the sequence “extra regressive than transgressive,” and mentioned, “There’s a strenuousness to the intercourse scenes between Depp and Tesfaye that kills any sense of eroticism.”
Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye and Lily-Rose Depp on the premiere of “The Idol.”
Samir Hussein/WireImage/Getty Photographs
Mary McNamara highlighted the quantity of nudity within the present in her evaluate for The Los Angeles Instances.
“Her bare, and near-naked, breasts are on fixed show — Jocelyn favors tops which can be both sheer or include tiny underboob-revealing triangles — and with a number of intercourse scenes which can be graphic (particularly aurally) even by HBO requirements, the time period ‘porn’ just isn’t inaccurate, although it’s robust to think about anybody would take into account any of the motion erotic when it’s so ham-fisted,” wrote McNamara.
The New York Instances’ Kyle Buchanan referred to as the episodes a “Pornhub-homepage odyssey” on Twitter, writing: “‘The Idol,’ or 50 SHADES OF TESFAYE: A Pornhub-homepage odyssey starring Lily Rose Depp’s areolas and The Weeknd’s greasy rat tail. Love that it will assist launch the HBO Max rebrand, ought to slot properly subsequent to Home Hunters!”
“The Idol” will premiere on HBO and HBO Max on June 4.