Has Joe Alwyn paid a higher price than we thought for the end of his romance with Taylor Swift?

The British actor, who dated famous singer Taylor Swift from 2016 to 2023, appears to have left the exclusive club managed by Oscar-winning director Yorgos Lanthimos now that they have split up. Lanthimos, the director of The Favourite and Poor Things, was in Cannes to promote his new film Kinds Of Kindness, which stars Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Willem Dafoe, and Alwyn.

Last Friday evening, Stone, Alwyn, and the rest of the cast walked the famous red carpet at the Palais. But he and Stone, Taylor Swift’s best pal, maintained their distance. Afterwards, a small party for cast, crew, and Searchlight bigwigs was held at the Carlton Hotel, attended by everyone eager to raise a glass to the new movie.

Everyone but Joe, that is. Instead, he showed up for a late-night drink and a dance at the Charles Finch filmmakers dinner in Antibes, which also featured Barbie director Greta Gerwig. The next day, there was a pretty awkward photocall and press briefing in which a thrilled Stone hugged Lanthimos – but Alwyn remained on the sidelines, looking gloomy.

It’s a shame because Stone and Alywn have known one other since they met on the set of The Favourite in 2017. Stone has now revealed that he will collaborate with Lanthimos on another film, Bugonia. Alwyn has no role.

Kinds of Kindness received positive reviews at Cannes, however others are concerned about the drug rape of Stone’s character by Alwyn’s character, as well as the large number of unconscious, naked women in the film. There is also a scene in which Stone slices off several of her fingers, which was not to everyone’s liking.

Speaking at Cannes, Alwyn, 33, said of the film: “You have to try not to unpack it all too much.” You must trust him [Lanthimos]. ‘It is unusual, strange, wacky, and unique, but one of the reasons I enjoy his films is that you experience it first, before you try to explain it all. Fans have hypothesized that some songs on Swift’s upcoming album, The Tortured Poets Department, reflects bitterness over their break-up last year.