The Chronology of Water is a ‘punk rock ayahuasca trip’ of a film that takes no prisoners. Stewart and her star, Imogen Poots, talk about the passion and pain that fuelled it

‘The movie is to be eaten alive and re-metabolised and shat out differently, from everyone’s perspective,” says Kristen Stewart, bracingly. The actor’s directorial debut, The Chronology of Water, has been doing the rounds at film festivals, and when we meet in London the reviews are coming in. Stewart knows that this impressionistic, arthouse collage of a film – adapted from an experimental memoir about a woman’s pain and loss, the elusive nature of memory and the reclamation of desire – is not going to be for everyone. “My favourite Letterboxd review is: ‘The Chronology of what the fuck did I just watch?’” But it matters to her that people respond to it. “Whether it’s your least favourite movie or your most favourite, it’s not lying, it’s genuine. And I’m so fucking proud of that.”

Stewart is sitting next to the film’s star, a slightly more sanguine Imogen Poots. Watching Stewart talk, her leg bouncing, her vocabulary ferocious, feels a bit like being sandblasted. It is invigorating and strangely galvanising, but you don’t go into a conversation with her half asleep. The same can be said for the film itself. “Language is a metaphor for experience,” writes the author Lidia Yuknavitch, at the beginning of the book on which it is based. “It’s as arbitrary as this mass of chaotic images we call memory.”

When words fail, clothes do the talking – from the Beckhams to Diana’s revenge dress, fashion is the language of image management

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It’s been over a week since Beckxit and still we wait. Yes, we’ve had David’s aphorisms at Davos; Romeo on the Willy Chavarria catwalk; Cruz on tour; Victoria’s reunion – not to mention the various fulsome Instagram posts from both parties. But no rebuttal, no apologies, no tears. Then, the remaining Beckhams hit Paris fashion week and finally we got our first statement.

David Beckham – once the most famous footballer in the world, now its most famous parent – was in town to wingman Victoria Beckham as she became a knight of the Order of Arts and Letters. But he was also there for the optics. The remaining kids flew in. So did their partners. Some wore Victoria Beckham, others wore Loewe, everyone looked demure and sober and matchy-matchy, what a celebrity astrologist might call “a united front”.

The actor on manifesting the part of Hagrid in Harry Potter, struggling with his looks and his issue with Strictly

You’re big on pies on your Insta. What’s your go-to pastry recipe and, briefly, your favourite filling – savoury and sweet? TopTramp
Well, as much as I can make it, I like to have a little block of shop-bought shortcrust or flaky pastry in the fridge. It’s so much easier to just roll it out and stick it on top. The pies have to be double crust. The one I make the most is slow braised, tiny chunks of steak with minced beef and roasted shallots, like a minced beef and onion pie. The kids love that with chips for Saturday night dinner. I like making chicken and mushroom with leek, although my partner’s a veggie, so she would probably say fish pie, with boiled eggs, which is a real labour of love, so I tend to save that for special occasions. I like a nice apple and cinnamon pie with a Demerara sugar crust, and cherry pie made with that really shit fake filling.

What happened to your live-action remake of Captain Pugwash? keithrickaby
That was nearly 10 years ago. There was quite a good script. I think the money was coming from China, and I’m not sure they’d seen Captain Pugwash before. I think it was one of those things that never quite reached escape velocity. I do remember they just had normal names, and not the double entendres like Seaman Staines or Master Bates that everyone thinks were in the cartoon.

Critics worry that heckling, such as that at a recent Royal Opera performance, is becoming more common

Opera audiences pride themselves on knowing when – and how – to make noise. Cries of “bravo”, “brava” and “bravi” have become a celebrated part of the tradition, with shouted approval seen as evidence of connoisseurship.

Booing, too, has a long history, and as a brave stand-in at the Royal Opera House found out on Tuesday night, its impact may sometimes seem a little blunter.

Chinese leader bestows a little largesse on the British PM while getting the green light for London ‘mega embassy’

Let’s face it, this was never going to be a meeting of equals. Keir Starmer had been desperate to squeeze in a trip to China for some time. Another country to tick off his list and he always feels a lot better about himself when he’s abroad. Less noise from his unhappy MPs. Plus he loved the pomp and ceremony that came with it. The large flags. The military bands. A country that treated him with respect. Almost. Besides, Mark Carney and Emmanuel Macron had both made recent trips. He had seen their holiday photos. Now it was his turn. He couldn’t bear to be left out.

The Chinese? Not so much. They couldn’t really see the point. But they would schedule in a couple of meetings on the condition the UK government gave the green light to the new “mega embassy” near the Tower of London. Consider it done, said Keir. All systems go for the first prime-ministerial visit since Theresa May in 2018.

Donald Trump says ‘time is running out’ for Iran as the threat of war appears to loom closer. A huge US armada is being moved towards the country and is seen as the starkest indication yet that Trump intends to strike. The US president had called on the Iranian regime to negotiate a deal on the future of its nuclear programme, only weeks after he promised Iranian protesters ‘help was on the way’ before backtracking days later. Nosheen Iqbal talks to the Guardian’s deputy head of international news, Devika Bhat, about what Trump could do next

US president warns Keir Starmer over closer ties with China during British PM’s trip to secure lower tariffs and better access to Chinese market

Donald Trump has warned the UK against doing business with China, just hours after Keir Starmer lauded the economic relationship during a landmark visit to Beijing.

The US president said it was “very dangerous” for the UK to pursue closer ties with the rival superpower as the prime minister’s three-hour talks with leader Xi Jinping underlined a thaw in previously strained relations.

Exclusive: Branch of Iranian software company TSIT, which makes Gap Messenger, is registered in Sussex

The creators of a messaging app accused of handing user data to the Iranian regime live on a windswept hill in a British coastal town, the Guardian can reveal.

Hadi and Mahdi Anjidani are the cofounders of TS Information Technology, established in 2010 and now registered at the address of a tax accountancy in Shoreham-by-Sea in West Sussex. It is the UK branch of an Iranian software corporation, Towse’e Saman Information Technology (TSIT).

Great Western Railway service recharges in three and a half minutes between trips on west London line

The UK’s first superfast-charging train running only on battery power will come into passenger service this weekend – operating a five-mile return route in west London.

Great Western Railway (GWR) will send the converted London Underground train out from 5.30am to cover the full Saturday timetable on the West Ealing to Greenford branch line, four stops and 12 minutes each way, and now carrying up to 273 passengers, should its celebrity stoke up the demand.

Council said Edward Harris’s properties ‘failed to meet even most basic of living standards and legal requirements’

A Reform UK council chair has resigned after it was found he was illegally running two unsafe rental properties, according to a neighbouring local authority.

Edward Harris, the chair of Warwickshire county council, owned two unlicensed houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) in Staffordshire that had “multiple serious safety failures”, according to Labour-led Tamworth borough council.