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Whether a return to Cannes normalcy is a good thing is debatable, but it was happening nonetheless. Big-name filmmakers were back on the Croisette, but so were superyachts along the Mediterranean horizon, showy displays of European wealth, compulsory black tie at galas and fleets of Bond-girl types with pointy elbows staggering with their six inches high. heels and incredibly high pain tolerances.
Even Marsden, a bona fide celebrity (and star of Amazon’s recent word-of-mouth hit “Jury Duty”), wasn’t quite sure how to handle the glitz, chance, and extreme wealth in front of him at Amfar — a perk for HIV/A research on AIDS seen as the culmination of two weeks of celebrations in Cannes, while having almost nothing to do with the cinema. There he was, with Kate Beckinsale and Odell Beckham Jr., watching the sun set over one of the world’s most famous hotels, while standing next to a green Aston Martin that he and Eva Longoria would later sell for 1.5 million euros to the 30-year-old Scion of a Mexican real estate family. The lucky bidder, Joaquin Jimenez, told me he would drive his new car exclusively to one of his second homes in Cancún because there are too many potholes in Mexico City, where he lives.
It was the first full year of the Cannes Film Festival since its total cancellation – and the pandemic-induced global shutdown of film production – in 2020. The backlog meant a lineup packed with big premieres from great filmmakers, such such as Martin Scorsese, Todd Haynes, Wes Anderson, Aki Kaurismäki, Hirokazu Kore-eda and Jonathan Glazer, not to mention Harrison Ford’s latest turn as “Indiana Jones”, the controversial “comeback” of Johnny Depp and a record of seven films by female directors in competition. On Saturday, Justine Triet won the Palme d’Or for her legal drama “Anatomy of a Fall”. She is only the third female director to win the festival’s top prize.
And as quickly as the chaos arose, it was over, with Crews starting to tear up the red carpet early Sunday morning. Here are the best, worst and funniest things I saw in two weeks in Cannes, at three hours of sleep per night:
Harrison Ford, 80, earned every single one of the many tears he shed at the premiere of ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Fate,’ his final turn as an iconic character. He spent the few days he was in town surrounded by actors and directors who told him Indy was the reason they got into movies. “It’s just amazing to see some kind of relic of your life go by,” Ford said, becoming freely wistful in front of a room full of adoring press.
Most Likely to Devour the Arthouse Box Office: Tran Anh Hung’s “Le Pot-au-Feu”
Set in a 19th-century French countryside mansion, this sumptuous movie delight is for anyone who needs nothing more from a movie than Juliette Binoche cooking on screen for 2.5 hours. Every time I met a fellow screenwriter, we would rhapsody about this gift from Tran (“The Scent of Green Papaya”) – which won the Cannes Jury’s Best Director Award – and how it could be the kind of arthouse food porn that we haven’t seen since “Chocolat” (also with Binoche) or “Le Festin de Babette”. The plot, as it stands, follows the slow, simmering romance between famed foodie Dodin Bouffant (Benoît Magimel) and Eugénie de Binoche, his home cook for 20 years. The actors are former lovers and co-parents, and their intimacy pairs perfectly with Tran’s lingering shots of braised veal and brilliant vol-au-vent. Don’t go see him hungry! You have been warned!
The most scandal-proof family
No matter how bad things go Johnny Depp in the United States, it is clear that it will always have its place in Cannes. Less than a year after disturbing details about his relationship with ex-wife Amber Heard emerged in open court, the beleaguered movie star was greeted by fans waving signs reading “Viva Johnny!” and shed a tear when he received a standing ovation for playing Louis XV in ‘Jeanne du Barry’, his first film in three years. It starred as the festival’s opening film, even as actors and activists criticized Cannes for its history of celebrating men accused of abuse. Also enjoying a scandal-proof bubble was Lily Rose Depp, who received his own standing ovation for playing a troubled (and often scantily clad) pop star in Sam Levinson’s miniseries “The Idol,” which has been plagued by reports of behind-the-scenes drama and a been completely redone. A Teflon father-daughter duo.
Quietest Horror Movie: Jonathan Glazer’s ‘The Zone of Interest’
Jonathan Glazer’s first film since 2013’s riveting “Under the Skin” opens with a static shot of a German family enjoying a swim and a picnic along a river. And only slowly, through birthdays and family visits, does it become clear that they are the family of Nazi officer Rudolf Höss (Christian Friedle) and his wife, Hedwig (a scary Sandra Hüller, who also stars in “Anatomy of a Fall” – and that the wall adjoining their pastoral garden is Auschwitz. Glazer shot mostly on location and the most common question at the press conference after the handover of the awards on Saturday was why he only won the second prize, and not the Palme d’Or.” That’s a very cruel question,” Glazer said with a laugh. “I’m very, very, very happy to be here.”
The most entertaining media war
Air Mail editor Graydon Carter’s party on Tuesday night at the Hotel du Cap was a close replica of the legendary parties he used to throw at the same venue when he was editor from Vanity Fair. It was also surprisingly similar to the party that his VF successor, Radhika Jones, had organized in the same space of the Hotel du Cap three days earlier. Chance? No chance. “I wanted — I wanted to beat them,” Carter told The Washington Post.
Most Oscar Ready: Martin Scorsese’s ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’
Scorsese’s 3.5-hour epic about a series of murders among members of the oil-rich Osage nation in the 1920s doesn’t open in theaters until October, so the film’s Cannes premiere hasn’t. a lot of sense – unless you’re just doing it for the moment and getting the Oscars buzz going before the field gets packed. But what a first it was. Scorsese, 80, returns to the festival that won him the Palme d’Or for “Taxi Driver” in 1976. Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio reunited for the first time in a Scorsese film. Lead actress Lily Gladstone having a star birth moment. Indigenous peoples are getting a standing ovation on the world stage. Start polishing the statues now.
Lustiest Pleasure: Todd Haynes’ “May December”
Haynes’ unsettling, campy look at a tabloid sex scandal, starring the powerhouse duo of Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman, wins the festival’s funniest film crown. Portman plays Elizabeth Berry, an actress who crosses borders with a reckless ego who comes to a small town in South Carolina to fit in with the woman she plays in a movie: Gracie Atherton-Yoo (Moore), who, as a married woman, had an affair with a 13-year-old boy (Charles Melton of “Riverdale”), then had her baby in prison and married him. Based on a true story, Haynes’ film sold Netflix for $11 million and is full of uncomfortable laughs as the dark power dynamic between the couple begins to emerge as they send their second daughter to the hospital. University, with Berry’s presence, of course, wreaking havoc.
Best Case for a Director to Take a Vacation: Wes Anderson’s ‘Asteroid City’
At a press conference, Anderson explained that he shot his latest diorama-like whimsical comedy during the pandemic, with the star cast (Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Jason Schwartzman) and crew living in a bubble. in a desert in Spain, eating dinners and drinking good wine at a long table together every night. His films sound like a blast to make, but that increasingly seems to be the problem. This one (set in a southwestern town of 87 that receives a visitor from space) and “The French Dispatch,” which he created in Cannes two years ago, are so enamored with the process of directing, world-building, and the camaraderie of the actors that the audience experience and any kind of emotional resonance feels like an afterthought. Maybe it’s time for Anderson to sit around a table with his friends without any cameras and seriously think about what kind of stories he wants to tell.
Best double feature film for the female gaze: “How to Have Sex” by Molly Manning Walker and “The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed” by Joanna Arnow
I happened to screen Walker’s film – about a trio of 16-year-old Brits on a girls’ trip to a party town in Crete – back to back with Arnow’s deadpan character study on the life of a 30 year old woman as a BDSM submissive, and recommend the experience. Walker won the Un Certain Regard competition for emerging and secondary filmmakers and is mentioned in the same breath as Charlotte Wells’ “Aftersun.” It’s a dark and visceral journey into the lives of the “Love Island” generation, with questions of consent and Mia McKenna-Bruce in a breakout role as Tara, who is on a misguided quest to lose her virginity. . In the latter, Arnow is his own often naked protagonist and a “Sliding Doors” version of a future Tara – a woman who knows what she wants but isn’t yet ready to admit it.