The China Mail - Lily-Rose Depp is 'nasty pop idol' at Cannes

Depp stars as "a nasty, nasty pop idol," according to the trailer of the show produced by musician Abel "The Weeknd" Tesfaye, who plays her toxic love interest.

Unhealthy relationships have been on full display at the Cannes Film Festival as it enters its second week -- not least in competition entry "Firebrand" featuring Jude Law's demonic performance as King Henry VIII.

Fat, fuming and with a stomach-turning infection in his leg, Law's version of the 16th century monarch is one of the more disgusting tyrants ever put on film, in a performance hailed by critics.

Women's inner lives have been a dominant theme in the movies at Cannes this year, and "Firebrand" focuses on Catherine Parr, the only of Henry's wives to outlive him, played by Alicia Vikander.

"Knowing there are five wives that are dead -- putting yourself in that state of mind makes you realise how fragile she was. Anything she does wrong can make this man flip," Vikander said.

- The Idol -

Lily-Rose Depp looks set to add yet another complex woman character to the line-up, as a fame-hungry party girl in the grips of a man running a modern-day cult.

Her father, Johnny Depp, already made a splash at the festival with the controversial actor appearing as French King Louis XV in opening film "Jeanne du Barry".

"The Idol" has been dogged by controversy, with Tesfaye going on social media to dismiss a March report by Rolling Stone that the shoot had "gone wildly, disgustingly off the rails."

It highlighted "disturbing sexual content and nudity" including a scrapped scene in which Tesyafe allegedly bashes in Lily-Rose Depp's face, with her asking for more.

Variety reported that the show needed major re-writes and re-shoots and switched director midway through, bringing in "Euphoria" creator Sam Levinson.

- Race for the Palme -

Meanwhile, the race for the festival's top prize, the Palme d'Or is heating up.

Festival favourite Finland's Aki Kaurismaki returned with his bittersweet romance "Fallen Leaves" on Monday, along with "Club Zero" by Austria's Jessica Hausner about a nutrition cult.

Tuesday will see the star-packed premiere of Wes Anderson's "Asteroid City", bringing Tom Hanks, Scarlett Johansson and Edward Norton to the red carpet.

An early front-runner from the first week is British director Jonathan Glazer's "The Zone of Interest", a unique and horrifying look at the private life of a Nazi officer working at the Auschwitz concentration camp.

There was also a lot of love for Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore's "May December," which looks at the relationship between an older woman and a schoolboy, still married years after their relationship became a tabloid scandal.

The festival has also seen major out-of-competition world premieres for "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny" and Martin Scorsese's "Killers of the Flower Moon" which received rave reviews over the weekend.

V.Liu--ThChM