Emma Stone, Woody Allen and Parker Posey attended the photocall for their new film Irrational Man at the Cannes Film Festival Friday.

‘Irrational Man’ At Cannes

Stone and Posey star in Allen’s latest film, Irrational Man, which premiered at Cannes this week. The film follows jaded college professor Abe (Joaquin Phoenix) as he finds a way out of his deep and ongoing torment with an existential act. In the lead up to his revelatory action, he carries on a platonic relationship with student Jill (Stone) and fellow teacher Rita (Posey).

Thus far, Irrational Man has proven to be a hit with critics, who find it to be a marked improvement over last year’s Magic in the Moonlight, which also starred Stone.

“Allen’s dialogue is witty, his plotting zings along with forward momentum in all the right places, and his observation of elastic moral principles in flux is both mischievous and unsettling, yielding a tasty final-act Hitchcockian twist,” reads The Hollywood Reporter‘s review. “The film’s relative breeziness plays in agreeable contrast to its sampling of weighty philosophical views and murky deeds as a daring bid for renewal.”

For decades, Allen has put out one movie a year – some lauded, some not so much. The 79-year-old filmmaker, who signed a contract with Amazon for a TV series much to his regret, has no plans on stepping away from his longtime job and passion.

“We’re all gonna end up in the same bad position sooner or later. The only way out of it, as an artist, is to try to come up with something where you can explain to people why life is worth living,” Allen said of his work at a Cannes press conference. “You’re living in a random universe and living a meaningless life. Everything you create in life will vanish … my conclusion is that the only possible way you can beat it a little bit is through distraction.”

“What distracts me is, ‘Oh, I hope Emma and Parker do well in this scene tonight,’ like it really means something in life,” said Allen, adding, “It doesn’t. If I don’t solve [the scene], it’ll be a bad movie, but I won’t die.”

Irrational Man will hit theaters July 17.