Updated: 14:50 GMT, 16 May 2011
Brad Pitt's art house movie The Tree of Life was greeted to a harsh chorus of boos, hisses and reluctant applause when it was unveiled at the Cannes Film Festival.
The picture's director Terrence Malick didn't even bother to turn up at the press conference following a screening that started at 8.30am.
Such a move is considered bad manners. No matter how shy you are for in Cannes you show up and face the music.
Holding the fort: After his director didn't show up, Brad Pitt talks to the press after the screening of his new film The Tree of Life
It was left to Brad Pitt as lead actor and producer to lead a team that included leading actress Jessica Chastain, and various other production executives Dede Gardner, Sarah Green ,Grant Hill and Bill Pohlad.
The two hour 18 minute picture is, essentially, a visual poem about love, life, death, evolution and erupting volcanoes.
It's a meditation on grace and nature and, as with all Malick films, it's deeply personal.
It's not the worst movie ever made but it is a lumbering mess.
That's all, folks: Brad waves farewell as he leaves the press conference
Pitt and Chastain play the parents of three boys being raised in a suburban neighbourhood in the 1950s, one of the lads is Jack and he grows up to become Sean Penn.
Malick wants us to know how Jack came about , what were the forces of nature that shaped Jack and how did his parents influence what he was to become.
The calming influence of his mother and the strict discipline of his father seem to be the most influential aspects of Jack's development.So too are his two brothers.
Who's missing? Brad poses with Chastain, and the films' producers but director Terrence Malick was noticeably absent
A voice over by Chastain tells us :'The only way to be happy is to love and unless you love your life will pass you by'.
The film's not a flop by any means. It's a visual sensation.
I'm quite haunted by it and I take my hat off to Pitt for backing it with his own money.
Ready for action: The sea of photographers behind Brad and Jessica clamber on their ladders to get a shot
It'll be interesting to see what tonight's black tie audience make of it at the official screening.
Sarah Green declared that Terrence Malick 'is very shy' and that 'his work speaks for itself'.
And Pitt also defended his absence saying an 'an artist should not have to be a salesman'.
Date night: Brad and partner Angelina Jolie are mobbed as they leave the Tattou restaurant in Antibes near Cannes
Goodnight everyone: Holding hands, Brad and Angelina call it a night and head back to their hotel.
not mine.credit and source: DAILY MAIL
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