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Meeting with Pol Pot

Meeting with Pol Pot (Rendez-vous avec Pol Pot)

Movie · 2024 · 3 people

Rithy Panh directed the 2024 historical drama Meeting with Pol Pot (Rendez-vous avec Pol Pot) and co-wrote the screenplay with Pierre Erwan Guillaume. A co-production of France, Cambodia, Qatar, Taiwan and Türkiye, the film draws partly on real events and on Elizabeth Becker's book When the War Was Over about the Khmer Rouge era. Set in 1978, it follows three French journalists invited to Democratic Kampuchea for an exclusive interview with Pol Pot. As the regime stages encounters designed to present the revolution as a triumph, traces of a silent genocide slowly erode the visitors' convictions. The story echoes the real December 1978 trip after which the British academic Malcolm Caldwell was murdered.

Irène Jacob plays Lise Delbo, Grégoire Colin plays Alain Cariou and Cyril Gueï plays Paul Thomas. The film premiered on 16 May 2024 in the Cannes Premiere section of the 77th Cannes Film Festival and was chosen as Cambodia's submission for Best International Feature Film at the 97th Academy Awards, though it was not nominated.

DirectorRithy Panh

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Cast

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Grégoire Colin Grégoire Colin Film actor · 51 years old Irène Jacob Irène Jacob Film actor · 60 years old Rithy Panh Rithy Panh Film director · 62 years old

Through different eyes

History & Society Lens Asks about the period, the social background and what the work reflects.

Rithy Panh looks at Khmer Rouge-era Cambodia through the way the regime wanted to present itself to the world. Three French journalists invited to Democratic Kampuchea in 1978 are surrounded by encounters staged to show the revolution as a triumph, yet the traces of a silent genocide slowly wear away their convictions. The film draws partly on real events and on Elizabeth Becker's book When the War Was Over, and it echoes the real December 1978 trip that ended with the murder of the British academic Malcolm Caldwell. It is a thought-provoking work on how propaganda steers the observer, on the limits of journalism and on ideological blindness. That Türkiye is among the co-producers is also worth noting.

Cinephile Looks at script, editing and directing choices; keeps a distance from formula films.

The script's most compelling idea is to put the gap between staged reality and what stays unseen at its centre: the shop window the regime offers the journalists, and everything behind it. That conceit gives the screenplay Panh wrote with Pierre Erwan Guillaume a strong dramatic spine. Irène Jacob and Grégoire Colin carry characters whose convictions slowly unravel with restrained performances. On the other hand, in a story that by its very subject moves gravely, 112 minutes can feel long, and keeping the tension equally taut throughout is no easy task. Still, shown in the Cannes Premiere section at the 77th Cannes festival and chosen as Cambodia's submission for Best International Feature Film, it deserves to be taken seriously even though it missed the nomination.

Action & Thriller Fan Puts pace, tension and set pieces first; little patience for slow drama.

The premise is tense: three journalists, an exclusive interview with Pol Pot and a country where everything is carefully staged. But to me this isn't a fast-moving thriller so much as a film of bearing witness. Anyone after action may find their patience tested. Still, the danger hanging in the air the whole time keeps you on edge. One for viewers who want atmosphere more than speed.

These are not reader reviews: they are short editorial takes written from different viewer perspectives with AI assistance. Reader reviews are below.

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