Ari Aster changes the setting but not the intensity. With Eddington, the American filmmaker plunges into a small New Mexico town shaken by the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic. Far from the hallucinations of Midsommar or the neuroses of Beau Is Afraid, this new fiction explores the shifting ground of political divisions, power struggles, and collective fears.
The film was presented in the official competition at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, during a screening attended by the team. It is the first time Aster has been selected for Cannes.
A fictional town, a very real moment
The action takes place in May 2020, when the United States is hit hard by the pandemic. The town of Eddington, created for the film, becomes the scene of growing tensions between a local sheriff and a newly elected mayor. The former, Richard Reyes (played by Joaquin Phoenix), is intent on maintaining order. The latter, Vincent Descartes (played by Pedro Pascal), advocates a more flexible and progressive approach.
Disagreements quickly follow: health measures, public safety, individual freedoms. The confrontation rapidly escalates into an open crisis, as the population is divided and local institutions falter.
A star-studded cast, a small town under pressure
Alongside the Phoenix–Pascal duo, Emma Stone plays Gina Reyes, the sheriff’s wife. Austin Butler and Michael Cera portray residents caught up in the rising tensions. The cast blends familiar faces from independent cinema with popular mainstream figures.
The film was shot on location in New Mexico, with particular care given to recreating the daily life of an average American town. Municipal offices, schools, shops, police stations—all contribute to conveying the atmosphere of an ordinary place experiencing an extraordinary crisis.
A fiction close to reality
Without taking a documentary approach, Eddington relies on very concrete elements: the pandemic’s effects on local life, the rise of political tensions, the weight of social media, distrust of authorities. The screenplay follows the chain reactions caused by contested public decisions, ideological divides, and collective fears.
The narrative alternates between scenes of political confrontation, portraits of citizens, and more intimate episodes. Characters evolve in a context where everyone tries to defend their vision, caught between civic duty, personal interests, and psychological fatigue.
Theatrical release
The US release is scheduled for July 18, 2025. In France, the film will hit theaters on July 16, 2025.
Eddington can serve as a contemporary illustration for the chapter on “the evolution of cowboys” in Shine Bright 2e, which covers the transformation of this iconic figure of the American West.
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ALL IMAGES : ©A24 Films - Metropolitan Film Export
Tag(s) : "A24" "Ari Aster" "Cannes 2025" "covid 19" "Eddington" "Joaquin Phoenix" "pandemic" "Pedro Pascal" "political drama" "power struggle" "small-town America" "social tensions" "United States 2020"