H onestly, like, who would have thought?’ Fast-rising star Margaret Qualley is laughing about those crazy coincidences that life can sometimes surprise you with. Filming Claire Denis’ sultry romance Stars at Noon, she ended up back in Panama, a land she first got to know when she was 14 after her father relocated to the Central American country. She revisited all her regular haunts. ‘We ended up shooting in a lot of them, which was really bizarre and felt meant-to-be.’
It’s not destiny but pure chance that brings Qualley’s Trish - a freelance journalist stranded in Nicaragua during the pandemic and selling sex to get by - together with mysterious businessman Daniel (Conversations with Friends’ Joe Alwyn). The couple embark on a heady, intense love affair after he solicits her services one night, with political intrigue casting a heavy pall over their blossoming relationship.
Qualley has been steadily building a filmography defined by auteur-led choices, so it’s no. ‘I’m a huge fan of hers,’ she tells over Zoom, describing the opportunity as an ‘honour’. The atmospheric drama is crafted in the French auteur’s singular vision as Denis touches on recurring themes that have haunted her work: sexuality, alienation and colonialism, all brought to the forefront with an evocative sensuality and a dreamy languor.
