Cannes officially kicked off last night with its opening film Partir Un Jour, a bitter-sweet French musical comedy by Amélie Bonnin. Starring Juliette Armanet as a stressed-out and pregnant chef, the film serves up a dollop of family conflict, a soupcon of yearnings for old flames and more than a pinch of Emilia Perez, with characters bursting into song at the drop of a toque. While the film earned some scathing reviews, with both The Guardian and The Daily Telegraph awarding it a meagre one star, I found this trip down memory lane sweet but never cloying.
However, the festival’s opening film and ceremony risked being overshadowed by news of one of France’s biggest international stars, Gérard Depardieu receiving a suspended 18-month sentence for assaulting two women on set.
Cannes has never been overly keen on commenting on the behaviour of filmmakers or stars, with the likes of Woody Allen and Roman Polanski welcomed with open arms on the red carpet in previous years. This year, the festival could not avoid questions about Depardieu during the opening press conference. Festival jury president Juliette Binoche, who starred with Depardieu in Let the Sunshine In, stated: ‘He’s a man who lost his aura owing to facts that occurred and were looked at by a court’. She went on to say that it was a landmark #MeToo moment in France and that the festival was in synch with the times.
Commenting on despicable actions by despicable men was very much the order of the day. Robert De Niro, receiving an honorary Palme d’Or from Leonardo DiCaprio, gave a scathing critique of Donald Trump, citing the 100% film tariffs that have recently been touted, but more importantly denouncing the precariousness state of ‘the democracy we once took for granted’. To rapturous applause, he called for people around the globe to rise up and act against act ‘without violence, but with great passion and determination’.
It’s not just the stars who are in the spotlight here in Cannes. Freelance festival workers were protesting on the red carpet, calling for better working conditions and contracts. For some time now, film critics have also been voicing their disquiet, and not just in Cannes.
The people who bring you interviews with the stars, showbiz gossip and film reviews are railing against the dearth of opportunities available to them to gain access to filmmakers and actors at festivals, a vital aspect of their work.
Italian film journalist Marco Consoli, who started the International Film Festivals Journalists group, gave a pre-Cannes statement, talking about the festival’s ‘promise of eagerly awaited films, excellent auteurs, actors and artists and, of course, the glamour of the red carpet. For international film journalists, the festival is an opportunity to see and discuss these films and, in that context interview these talents… At a time when in-depth articles or interviews are giving way to social media influencers’ reports, the place given to cultural debates becomes a fundamental issue’.
Tom Cruise, here for Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, is one of those stars who has been unavailable to the press for interviews. However, he did make a surprise appearance at the masterclass with Christopher McQuarrie, the film’s writer-director-producer.
Refusing to state whether this will be the final instalment of the franchise, instead Cruise spoke about his stunts and lavished praise on his director. Cruise stated that McQuarrie’s style is a throwback to Hollywood of old: ‘It goes back to silent movies. When you’re looking at this film, you’re going to feel how the close-ups are used with the characters,’ stated the star.
Talking of silent movies, Charlie Chaplin’s The Gold Rush has been restored in time for its one-hundredth anniversary. At a packed screening, which included two of Chaplin’s grandchildren in the audience, the film was a joy to watch. Sitting in a darkened cinema with over a thousand other viewers, who were as enraptured and entertained as audiences a century ago, shows that cinema is not dead: it is as vibrant, powerful, engaging and magical as it ever was. No controversy about that. Vive Cannes and vive le cinema!
