Cannes 2026: John Lennon: The Last Interview, La Libertad Doble

"John Lennon and his wife, Yoko Ono, sat for a radio interview at their apartment in the Dakota in New York. The ostensible subject was their new album, Double Fantasy, but the conversation was expansive. It included reflections on how they met, their artistic temperaments, and their feelings about their lives together and parenthood."

"Although the reporters speaking to Lennon and Ono were told that questions about the Beatles were off-limits, Lennon doesn't seem to have been shy about the subject. He describes Paul McCartney as the only Beatle he picked as his partner (George came through Paul and Ringo came through George); how his experiments with "freaky music" worked their way into songs like "Tomorrow Never Knows"; and how he had lived the boyhood dream of being Elvis, a stage he sounds eager to move past."

"Most of the discussion is accompanied by conventional archival footage. Soderbergh also shot a group interview with the three still-starstruck reporters-Laurie Kaye, Ron Hummel, and Dave Sholin-who were there asking the questions. These talking-head interludes are perfunctory, but their trio's recollections set the scene well. Among other details, we learn that care was taken to use a special audio setup involving chromium dioxide tape so as to be minimally disruptive, since the three of them were intruding in Lennon and Ono's home."

John Lennon and Yoko Ono sat for a radio interview in their Dakota apartment on the afternoon of Lennon’s 1980 killing. The interview centered on their album Double Fantasy but ranged across how they met, their artistic temperaments, and their feelings about life together and parenthood. The recording serves as the core of a documentary, with the interview abridged for runtime while keeping its chronology and flow. Reporters were instructed to avoid Beatles questions, yet Lennon still addressed them, including his views on Paul McCartney and how experimental “freaky music” influenced songs. The documentary uses archival footage and includes a group interview with the reporters, who describe the setup used to minimize disruption.

Read at Roger Ebert