Oscar-winning Iranian director Asghar Farhadi's psychological thriller is set to open the Cannes Film Festival amid a slew of controversies that have dogged this year's launch of the world's leading movie showcase.
Starring Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz, Everybody Knows (Todos Lo Saben) is Farhadi's first movie in Spanish and the first Spanish-language movie to launch the festival since Pedro Almodovar's Bad Education in 2004.
Farhadi's film is one of 21 selected for the race for the Palme d'Or, one of the most coveted prizes in the world of cinema.
But now in its 71st year, Cannes has been forced to face up a series of challenges, including a feud with US online movie giant Netflix over the screening of its films and fallout from the sex scandal that has engulfed US movie mogul Harvey Weinstein.
On the eve of the festival's opening, Oscar-winning actress Cate Blanchett, who heads this year's jury, has given the controversy surrounding Weinstein new momentum by telling US entertainment magazine "Variety" that he had acted inappropriately towards her.
"I think he really primarily preyed, like most predators, on the vulnerable," Blanchett told "Variety." "I mean, I got a bad feeling from him ... He would often say to me, 'We're not friends.' "
When asked to elaborate, the 48-year-old Australian actor went on to say that she "wouldn't do what he was asking me to do." She declined to provide any more details.
In a statement, Weinstein said he "believes there were never any personal or even professional disagreements between the two."
Cannes has set up a special hotline to report allegations of sexual abuse during the festival.
Ahead of the festival there has been renewed criticism about Cannes' interest in women directors. There are only three women directors in Cannes' main competition this year, the same number as last year.
Once dubbed "the cinematic Olympics" by US director Quentin Tarantino, Cannes' population swells by a third, from 76,000 to about 200,000, during the festival.
With the countdown to Tuesday's gala opening underway, movie posters now adorn the wedding-cake style hotels perched along the Croisette, the palm tree-lined boulevard that cuts through the Mediterranean resort town.
But with France on high alert, the festival is again surrounded by a ring of steel, including the deployment of 700 police and the positioning of 400 giant plant pots to reinforce security around the 11-day event.
In Everybody Knows, Cruz plays Laura, who returns to her native village in Spain from Buenos Aires with her husband, where they are forced to confront revelations about her family's hidden past.
Everybody Knows is the third film from Farhadi that has been selected to compete for the 10-day movie showcase's top honour - the Palme d'Or for best film.
