Ira Sachs' 'The Man I Love' Debuts at Cannes
Get the Culture newsletter
Daily culture — film, music, books, the trends and ideas worth your attention. Free.
- Ira Sachs says “The Man I Love” is an autobiographical drama set in 1980s New York during the AIDS crisis, following a dying performer, Jimmy George, who seeks a final role.
- The Man I Love premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, where critics praised Sachs’s direction and Rami Malek’s lead performance.
- Sachs reveals the film evolved from an initially marketed musical fantasy into a drama with music, after cutting a fantasy scene during production.
- Sachs draws on his personal history, including a boyfriend who had AIDS, to depict art and creativity as forms of survival.
- Sachs emphasizes that his films, including “The Man I Love,” develop organically, revealing their final shape only upon completion.
Why it matters: The strong Cannes reception positions “The Man I Love” for broader distribution, giving queer stories a high‑profile platform and potentially increasing funding for similar indie projects.
