Ryan Gosling didn't attend the premiere of "Only God Forgives" at the Cannes Film Festival, but maybe that's a good thing. The violent film led Gosling's co-star, Kristen Scott Thomas, say "I don't enjoy watching."

Thomas wasn't the only one. Only God Forgives was roundly criticized by critics for it's blood and gore and for the unemotional detachment to violence employed throughout the film.

Only God Forgives was directed by a guy who has worked with Ryan Gosling before, Drive auteur filmmaker, Nicolas Winding Refn.

The film is up for the prestigious Palme d'Or, which is the highest prize given at Cannes, give to the director of the best film at the festival.

But with all the boos and awful reviews, Refn will have to cuddle with his Palme d'Or from 2011, when he won for Drive.

Kristen Scott Thomas, who plays the Lady MacBeth-tinged matriarch of the film, might have hated it as much as the critics.

Scott Thomas was cast, out of type, as the mother to Ryan Gosling's boxing club owner.

Scott Thomas usually gets roles in stage productions in England or ornate period dramas, but she wanted a challenge and Refn offered her one to play such a diabolical character.

In the film's exegesis, the real culprit behind the fall of Gosling's violent protagonist, lies primarily at the feet of Scott Thomas' mother characters.

She encourages Gosling to find and kill the murderer of his brother and the violent premise of the film is set in motion with one stomach-churning scene after another that critics loudly criticized. Here is one such scene from Only God Forgives:

But despite Scott Thomas' Versace clad evil mother character in the film, she finds all the gun and knife play awful.

Kristen Scott Thomas told reporters after the Cannes screening, "This kind of film is really not my thing." She continues, "Films where this kind of violence happens I don't enjoy watching."

Kristen was certainly not the only one; although, since Scott Thomas is one of the primary characters in the film, it's not very good PR when your star doesn't even want to see what she's had a hand in making.

Rehn defended himself against critics, saying "Art is an act of violence. Art is about penetration. Art is about speaking to our subconscious and our needs at different levels."

Perhaps art is the way Gosling has managed to avoid all the negative press now associated with Only God Forgives.

He missed Cannes because he's busy filming his directorial debut in Detroit with How to Catch a Monster.