Siblings dazzle Cannes with ‘hypnotic’ story of Nigeria's wealthy elite

Arie Esiri and Chuko Esiri, Nigerian co-directors and screenwriters, posed for a portrait on the sidelines of the 79th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France, on May 17, 2026, with their film "Clarissa" making a significant impact at the event.

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The movie "Clarissa" offers a unique perspective on Lagos, one that has never been seen on the big screen, delving into the lives of Nigeria's most privileged people, with critics at Cannes praising the brothers' post-colonial take on Virginia Woolf's novel "Mrs Dalloway" as subtle and affecting.

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Critics, including the Hollywood Reporter's Lovia Gyarkye, who wrote "How lucky we are" they took it on, and The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw, who called the movie "seductive" and "mesmeric", have found "Clarissa" to be one of the most notable films of the year so far, with veteran RogerEbert.com critic Brian Tallerico declaring it "one of the better films I’ll see this year".

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Following the film's triumphant premiere in the Director's Fortnight section, the twins told AFP that they were unfazed by the attention, with Chuko joking that fortunes "rise and fall like the currency" in Nigeria, and comparisons to other film-making siblings like the Coen brothers, the Dardennes, and the Wachowski sisters, have not intimidated them.

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Arie, the older of the two, described shooting with his twin as a kind of superpower, admitting he usually plays the tough guy on set, while Chuko noted that they are "wired differently", with Arie being left-handed and visual, and Chuko being right-handed and more narrative.

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The film "Clarissa" is as much about post-independence Nigeria as it is about its upper crust, which the brothers know well, having "been born into it", with Africa's most populous nation being "like any underdeveloped country — the middle disappears and so it's basically just two classes", according to Chuko.

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The twins' tale turns on the intertwining stories of a high-society hostess and the soldier husband of her dressmaker, who returns from fighting Boko Haram jihadists in the north with PTSD and his faith in humanity shattered by the corruption of his superiors, highlighting the disconnect between the suffering of the two-decade insurgency and life in Lagos.

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A wonky mosaic in the hostess's chic seaside home, mirroring the shape of the country, serves as a symbol of the nation's imperfections, with Chuko describing it as "a perfect motif of the nation" that "could be amazing" but needs adjustment, reflecting the ongoing debate about Nigeria's identity and future.

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Neon, the distributors of the last six winners of Cannes' top prize, have already acquired the film, while the Esiris have another film, "Three Souls", about the break-up of a band, in development, and a Nigerian whodunnit to follow, with "Clarissa" being the second African film to receive a rapturous reception at Cannes this year.

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The film's success is part of a larger African wave at Cannes, with "Congo Boy" from the Central African Republic, and two others from Rwanda and Morocco, also competing for prizes, and like the brothers' first film, "Eyimofe (This Is My Desire)" in 2020, "Clarissa" features power cuts, "an everyday occurrence" in Nigeria, according to Chuko.

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The Cannes premiere of "Clarissa" was marked by a technical hitch, with the projector jamming during the opening credits, but an hour and a half later, the critics were on their feet, clapping and cheering, with the film ultimately receiving a standing ovation.