An A-list ensemble, including Benicio del Toro, Mia Threapleton, Michael Cera, Benedict Cumberbatch and Riz Ahmed, star in Anderson's new espionage comedy, screening in competition in Cannes.

“The Phoenician Scheme,” a leaner tale which Focus Features will release May 30, is Anderson working in high comic gear. A playful and poignant kind of thriller, it stars Del Toro as the tycoon Zsa-Zsa Korda, who decides to name his daughter, a novitiate (Threapleton) heir to his dubiously accrued fortune.

It’s not Cannes without Wes Anderson, and the Houston native’s The Phoenician Scheme has its world premiere Sunday night in Cannes, notching a 7½-minute ovation. First-time Anderson-film star Mia Threapleton was tearing up as the crowd’s applause continued.