by Alex Billington
May 27, 2026
A fresh new vision of cinema unfolds in front of our eyes. Emerging from the cinema, you will never see the world the same way again. Wow. This here is real, profound, bold cinema. It left me totally shaken, boasting a handful of entirely unforgettable shots (you’ll notice them as soon as they arrive). Everytime is the latest feature from acclaimed Austrian filmmaker Sandra Wollner, a remarkably vibrant new take on grief and how it shatters the world around us. Everytime won the main award in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival, standing out for so many reasons. It deserves this prize and plenty others. I’m also not the only one saying this film should’ve been in the festival’s Main Competition, it’s really that good. Then more people would’ve been able to watch it and start talking about it and discussing everything in the second half because WHOA. This is a serious conversation-starter film – in a good way. Everyone will have something to say about it, some questions to ask, some ideas to consider. What does it all mean?! Which is what truly great cinema can achieve when it’s enchanting and emotionally profound and superbly cinematic.
Everytime is written & directed by Sandra Wollner and is set mostly in Berlin at the start, before traveling over to Tenerife within Spain’s Canary Islands. These vast, desert-like Atlantic Ocean islands are a familiar location for many Europeans, especially Germans who visit often, and they’ve become a key setting for many films recently (also see: Islands, The Beloved, Mi Amor, In The Grey). Everytime is yet another modern film about grief – though really more about a great tragedy and the after effects of this tragedy & how the grief affects the people involved. It’s haunting and upsetting but that is part of the cinematic nature of this story. Birgit Minichmayr stars as Ella, and Lotte Shirin Keiling as her young daughter Melli, Germans from Berlin who experience this tragedy. Many films about grief tend to focus the camera specifically on emotions and the grief the characters experience. But with this film, Wollner decides to focus the camera anywhere else aside from the grief. The grief is all around them, but all the shots are of moments that are not about the grief, but about how life must go on after something bad happens. I’ve written before about how few films ever do anything new with grief, but Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty! and Everytime are the exceptions in 2026 so far that actually try something distinct and succeed in handling this tricky topic with verve & style.
The film features stunning cinematography by DP Gregory Oke, who also shot Aftersun. The dreamy, is-this-reality-or-not vibes are what enhance the cinematic nature of this grief story. And while so much of the film is so profound and awe-inspiring, the finale is a big let down… Wollner seems to have been unable to figure out how to end this story and what to do with it after exploring so many interesting ideas before. Even if this ending really bothers me, I can’t shake this film. It’s the kind that gets under your skin – but not in a bad way. It leaves so many thoughts on your mind, ranging from how we process grief, and what it takes to overcome tragedy. To more profound worries about the state of the world and how we all deal with things, ignore things, how we handle the bad things. To bigger questions about cinema and what it’s capable of, and whether this story is intriguing to viewers from a cinematic standpoint, or whether it can actually be helpful to anyone who is also processing profound grief. Unlike Aftersun, which looks and feels similar and has the same dreamlike vibes, I don’t think this film will be healing to many viewers. However, I do think it is so powerful its cinematic magnificence that it might encourage some people to look at the world differently and approach problems in their life with a different understanding of our reality and how humans exist within it.
Once this releases, everyone will be reading endless theories as to what it all means, what’s going on, what is the point of this, what is the explanation. I don’t have any answers because I’m also trying to make sense of it and consider what each shot means. Did that really happen? Is this scene really real or not? There’s so much to analyze. I have some theories. Some I don’t like, some I do like, some that bother me. The ending isn’t as bad as the ending in the other Cannes film La Gradiva, but it’s just as shocking… The big question still left unanswered by this film even though it’s the main theme: were they able to overcome their grief and find some relief? Or are they still trapped by it despite everything they go through? And while I don’t think the ending works at all… The rest of the film is utterly spectacular contemporary cinema. Visually distinct and narratively entrancing. Keep an eye out for Everytime and enjoy getting lost inside of this unique film.
Alex’s Cannes 2026 Rating: 9.5 out of 10
Follow Alex on Twitter – @firstshowing / Or Letterboxd – @firstshowing
