Ryan Gosling was fortunately absent from the screening of his film at the Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday because otherwise, he might have heard the boos coming from the audience. "Only God Forgives" features gratuitous violence that disgusted viewers.

In the crime thriller, directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, Gosling plays Julian, an American who runs a boxing club in Bangkok. His mother forced him to find and kill his brother's killer.

The press had high hopes for the film when they walked into its screening. After all, it reunites Refn and Gosling, who worked together on the critically acclaimed film "Drive," which received a standing ovation at Cannes in 2011.

Their second collaboration received the opposite reception, though.

According to Vulture, the film was filled with gory and revolting scenes, and that the audience hated every moment of it. There was one scene where a character stuck his hand inside a woman's slashed body, and another with Gosling dragging a guy across the hallway by his upper jaw.

Gosling didn't say much in the film, and he didn't have to because perhaps he was busy mutilating his enemies to pieces.

Kristin Scott Thomas, who plays his mother, was perhaps the highlight of the film. According to Variety, she "easily upstages Ryan Gosling's near-catatonic turn."

But while the film received astoundingly loud boos, there were cheers as well, The Irish Times said. So far, though, the reviews that are coming are generally negative.

Meanwhile, Gosling apologised for his absence in the screening. He is currently in the third week of shooting a movie so he wasn't able to travel to France.