He said this one would be different, and apparently he meant it. Atom Egoyan’s latest – the noir-ish mystery Where the Truth Lies – landed with a splash at this month’s Cannes film fest, turning heads with its ample nudity, spurts of violence, drugs and sex.

It was ‘the sexiest film so far’ at Cannes, according to the Toronto Sun’s Bruce Kirkland, writing at about the halfway point. A ‘big, slick and sexy mystery’ that should have ‘no trouble attracting audiences seeking high-style, grownup entertainment,’ says a review in The Hollywood Reporter.

That last part should go over especially well with Egoyan’s backers at Telefilm Canada, where successful English-language films are still something of a rare bird.

The picture includes one orgy, a racy and drug-fuelled lesbian encounter and, of course, the mysterious death that sends a young writer (Alison Lohman) digging into the past of two old-school comedians, played by Colin Firth and Kevin Bacon.

Egoyan has always said that Truth would be more accessible than his other pictures – compared to, say, Ararat, the tale of the Armenian genocide, or the equally wrenching The Sweet Hereafter. It shot in Toronto, L.A. and elsewhere last summer on a $30-million budget and will be distributed by ThinkFilm.

Bad behavior has also paid off for David Cronenberg who, at press time, was a strong favorite to win this year’s Palme d’Or for his A History of Violence, about how a bloody outburst at their diner changes an all-American family. Cronenberg is ‘on the top of his game’ with this one, writes the Toronto Star’s Peter Howell, following ‘in the tradition of a John Ford western and Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven.’ Violence stars Viggo Mortensen, Maria Bello and William Hurt.

Cronenberg also used the fest to announce that he is getting back to work on Painkillers, the project he put on hold to make Violence, again working with producer Robert Lantos, who also produced Where the Truth Lies.

The $35-million sci-fi thriller has been on again, off again for some time, and comes from the famously creepy director’s first original screenplay since 1999’s eXistenZ. The story reportedly involves a futuristic society in which surgery has become a kind of spectator sport, replacing sex, while pain has replaced sex as the new taboo thrill. (Yep, that sounds like our David.)

ThinkFilm is reportedly already chasing presale through its new international sales division.

Midnight Movies by Toronto filmmaker Stuart Samuels is also playing well in Cannes, although it is not in competition. The feature doc about the underground films of the 1960s and ’70s – Night of the Living Dead, The Rocky Horror Picture Show and El Topo, to name a few – also got a warm nod from The Hollywood Reporter for its ‘engaging and perceptive glimpse… into a raucous time of personal rebellion.’

‘An historical essay on how these fringe Midnighters have influenced today’s mainstream directors,’ writes Duane Byrge.