Stars at Noon

Stars at Noon is a 2022 English-language French romantic thriller film directed by Claire Denis, based on the 1986 novel The Stars at Noon by Denis Johnson, starring Margaret Qualley, Joe Alwyn, Benny Safdie, Danny Ramirez, and John C. Reilly. The film was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Grand Prix. It was released in the United States by A24 on 14 October 2022. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, most of whom praised Denis' direction and Qualley's performance, although some criticized the pacing and lack of romantic chemistry between the leads. Plot Trish is a young American journalist stranded in Nicaragua during the COVID-19 pandemic and amid a period of severe governmental instability. She is a travel writer whose coverage of brutal extrajudicial killings has alienated both her superiors and the ruling party; her passport has been confiscated and she is living in a flophouse paid for by a sympathetic cabinet minister. Trish assumes that she will be executed for her anti-government activities when the minister can no longer protect her. She has sex with government officials for money and basic necessities (largely unavailable due to the political crisis) while searching desperately for a way out of the country. One day, Trish solicits a British man named Daniel for sex in a hotel reserved for wealthy foreigners. Daniel introduces himself as a petrochemicals consultant, but Trish assumes that he is really an intelligence agent. They have passionate, tender sex, and Trish follows him the day after. She observes him meeting with a man she identifies as a Costa Rican police officer. When questioned about the meeting, Daniel is surprised to hear of the man's true identity, eventually realizing his hostile intentions after the officer chases the two through a market.