Guest of Honour (2019 film)


Guest of Honour is a 2019 Canadian drama film, written, directed, and produced by Atom Egoyan. It stars David Thewlis, Laysla De Oliveira, Rossif Sutherland, Alexandre Bourgeois, Arsinée Khanjian and Luke Wilson.
It had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival on September 3, 2019. It is scheduled to be released on July 10, 2020, by Elevation Pictures.

Plot

Veronica wants to remain in jail for a wrongfully indicted sexual assault. She and her father, Jim, find themselves acting out as the past comes back to haunt them.

Cast

In September 2018, it was announced Atom Egoyan would direct the film from a screenplay he wrote. Egoyan, Jennifer Weiss and Simone Urdl will produce the film under their The Film Farm and Ego Film Art banners, respectively. Telefilm Canada will also produce the film, while Elevation Pictures will distribute. In November 2018, David Thewlis, Luke Wilson, Laysla De Oliveira, Rossif Sutherland and Alexandre Bourgeois joined the cast of the film.

Filming

began in November 2018.

Release

The film had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival on September 3, 2019. It also screened at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 10, 2019. and the BFI London Film Festival on October 8, 2019.
In February 2020, Kino Lorber acquired U.S. distribution rights to the film. It is scheduled to be released in the United States and Canada on July 10, 2020.

Critical reception

Guest of Honour holds a 36% approval rating on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 28 reviews, with a weighted average of 5.08/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "David Thewlis' performance aside, Guest of Honour serves as a frustratingly limited return to form for writer-director Atom Egoyan." On Metacritic, the film holds a rating of 50 out of 100, based on 9 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".