CANNES, France (AP) — Ryan Gosling debuted as a film director at the Cannes Film Festival with a stylish, theatrical fable that critics quickly slammed.

The first screening of Gosling’s “Lost River” played Tuesday for one of the festival’s most packed crowds, who surely got something they weren’t expecting. “Lost River” is a baroque fairy tale set in the ruins of Detroit, filmed with bold, florid cinematography and a lurid, David Lynch-like atmosphere.