“We live in terrible times, and ‘Anniversary’ is a wonderful, refreshing opportunity to reflect on them. You’re never sure what might come out of it,” Lane told Flaunt. Work on the film began shortly after the end of Donald Trump’s first term of office. When the film was released in theaters, the year of the 2024 election victory had passed. “I guess we had to wait for reality to catch up with our fictional plot.”
Lane praised the script by Lori Rosene-Gambino. “It’s brilliant that it doesn’t point directly at any political party. We have a conflict between conservatives and progressives, we see the differences between them, but we feel that this story could have happened anywhere. Our film encourages many thoughts, emotions and conversations,” says the actress.
Lane did not spare kind words for Komasa. For the 44-year-old Polish director, “The Anniversary” is his feature-length English-language debut. “I was a huge fan of his. (I admire) the way he can shock the audience. How he gets into the mind and heart of the scariest person in the room – the one who doesn’t seem scary at all,” she explained.
When, one fine afternoon, during their 25th wedding anniversary party, the son of Ellen (Diane Lane) and Paul (Kyle Chandler) introduces them to his new girlfriend, no one suspects that this is the beginning of the end for this happy family. This new fiancée is Liz (Phoebe Dynevor), a former student of Ellen’s, expelled from the university years ago for radical views. Underneath his charming exterior, he hides great ambitions, but no scruples. With each passing anniversary, Liz’s influence on the family becomes greater and more destructive, and the new ideology she promotes called “The Change” gains more and more publicity. Previously hidden family conflicts take on new force as the country stands on the brink of the abyss.
“Anniversary” is the first project of Jan Komasa, the creator of “Suicide Room”, “Miast 44” and “Corpus Christi”, carried out in the United States. “I always wanted to make a film set over several years and showing the development of life and relationships,” confessed the director.
Lane, 60, rose to prominence in the mid-1980s for her appearances in the films “Cotton Club” and “Streets on Fire.” The main role in “Unfaithful” earned her an Oscar nomination. She was also nominated three times for an Emmy and a Golden Globe.