With an ode to Catherine Deneuve, the 76th Cannes Festival in France remains a closed-circle ceremony. The Jury presided by Ruben Östlund looks for innovation
Cannes Festival 2023, the red carpet
Held on the French Riviera, the French film festival of Cannes opens up the 76th ceremony on the red carpet. A lavish atmosphere takes the scene with Élodie Fontan and Fan Bingbing portraying all the feminine facets of the industry. Alessandra Ambrosio and Charlotte Casiraghi walk the stairs buzzing with frizzy energy.
A handsome costume carries out Cindy Bruna who makes her appearance alongside other celebrities like Naomi Campbell and the Italian White Lotus star Simona Tabasca. It feels like grace and old Hollywood, it feels like a celebration of legends, something to revitalize new cinematic waves. Uma Thruman comes accompanied by her son Levon Roan Thurman-Hawke while Catherine Zeta-Jones with her daughter Carys Zeta Douglas are a sight to see, together with Michael Douglas, a special guest on the evening’s celebration.
Suppressed by political views and propaganda stands, as were seen at the Venetian film festival during the Second World War, Cannes was created as a silent protest through censorship. Philippe Erlanger and Robert Favre Le Bret were the first to implement a movie platform that would consider solely ungroomed cinematographic creation. Its exclusivity makes it all the more well-known, with hosts and guests of the highest prestige. There’s no influencer in sight.
Catherine Deneuve, the symbol of the 76th Cannes Ceremony
The posters of Cannes have a voice of their own and this year’s image was a black and white photograph of Catherine Deneuve from La Chamade by Alain Cavalier shot in 1968 on the Cote D’Azur. With movies like A Matter of Resistance by Jean-Paul Rappeneau, The Young Girls of Rochefort by Jacques Demy, and Luis Buñuel’s Belle de Jour she surpassed the idea of an IT girl, more of a symbol than a muse. For the opening ceremony, she arrived in a night blue dress adorned with diamonds on the neck. Her daughter Chiara Mastroianni was the official host of the event while her granddaughter Anna Biolay participated alongside her.
Walking on the stage of the Palais des Festivals in Cannes Catherine held a speech that reminded the war conflict in Ukraine and the lives of people still enduring hardships. Tooken up by emotions she forgot to announce the opening of Cannes which made her all the more human throughout the fabric of celebrities
This year’s jury has Ruben Östlund as president
This year’s jury sees Brie Larson, Paul Dano, Julia Ducournau, Maryam Touzani, Denis Ménochet, and Atiq Rahimi as front runners, with Ruben Östlund as president. Director of Triangle of Sadness, he was last year’s La Palma winner.
A multiethnic approach with jury members coming from different backgrounds. Not only Americans and French voices of the industry, this year’s jury sees Argentinian director, writer, and editor Damian Szifron, and Rungano Nyoni, a highly awarded director from Zembia since her 2017 movie I’m not a Which.
The press conference opens up debates on women versus men spectatorship, the rise of superhero movies against independent projects, and what a movie called The Jury would look like for the members. «When it comes to running a jury you try to create an atmosphere where people don’t try to be smart all the time,» the Swedish director says, «Because people shouldn’t be scared of saying what they feel»
The discussion opened up about the screenwriter’s strikes in the United States where because of the streaming platform industry writers feel their work is undervalued. Paul Dano confesses to joining the strikes with his wife when coming home from the film festival. Coming forward with different inputs and industry knowledge the jury members seem to focus on expressing their views freely without pushing consensus, carrying on the idea that the Cannes film festival is about independent and authentic thinking.
The movies competing for the Palme d’Or in Cannes
A total of seven of the 21 titles in the competition are directed by women, including Alice Rohrwacher, Catherine Corsini, Jessica Hausner, and Catherine Breillat. This is a new record for Cannes, which has been repeatedly criticized for its lack of representation of women and men – especially when compared to the Berlin Film Festival, which achieved near gender parity in its most recent selection in competition.
This year’s official selection is strong with big names, including two-time Palme d’Or winner Ken Loach (The Wind That Shakes The Barley and I, Daniel Blake), as well as Wim Wenders, Nanni Moretti, Nuri Bilge Ceylan and Hirokazu Kore-eda – who each won Cannes’ top prize for Paris, Texas, The Son’s Room, Winter Sleep and Shoplifters. The old guard will be up against names like Wes Anderson with his new film Asteroid City and Todd Haynes’ May December, as well as a record number of female filmmakers in competition.
In JeanduBarry, MaiwennplaysJeanne Vaubernier, a French working-class woman who rises to the social class and becomes the lover of Louis XV. Her roots in the working class make her a social pariah in the court of the king. Supporting actors include Benjamin Lavernhe, Pierre Richard, Melvin Poupaud, and Pascal Greggori.
Indiana Jones is making its return on the screens with the fifth movie of the series presented at the festival. James Mangold (Walk the Line, Logan) takes control of Spielberg and this time, the Indy adventure is described as a story about the U.S.government recruiting ex-Nazis to make them superior in space races, and the titular MacGuffin that suggests a time-travel component in the story.
There are queer retells of the wild west and Western masculinity with Pedro Pascal and Ethan Hawke playing in Strange Way of Life, or an Alien sci-fi-com portrayed by Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City, each movie holds its out authentic storytelling and the winners will be officialize on the 27th of may.
Cannes 2023 – Running up for best movie and actors
Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City, starring Margot Robbie, Maya Hawke, and Scarlett Johansson; The Idol, starring Lily-Rose Depp; and The Weeknd; and the Indiana Jones reboot, starring Harrison Ford and Phoebe Waller-Bridge, are just a few of the noteworthy movies on the schedule this year, both inside and outside of the official competition. This inevitably implies that we can anticipate numerous star-studded red carpet premieres, as well as some amazing fashion walking the Croisette and climbing those recognizable red stairs.
Robert DeNiro and Leonardo DiCaprio will both be present for Martin Scorsese’s latest film, Killers of the Flower Moon; Harrison Ford, Mads Mikkelsen, and Phoebe Waller-Bridge are likely to travel to France for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, the concluding installment in the Indiana Jones series; Johnny Depp, whose opening film, Mawenn’s Jeanne Du Barry, stars there; Jude Law and Alicia Vikander will represent Karim Aïnouz’s historical drama Firebrand. The A-list movie Asteroid City, starring Tom Hanks, Scarlett Johansson, Margot Robbie, Edward Norton, Maya Hawke, and many others, is another breakthrough.
Johnny Depp makes his return to the screen
‘Jeanne du Barry’ received a Tearful Seven-Minute Standing Ovation for Johnny Depp, securing His Return to Cannes. An enthusiastic seven-minute standing ovation was given to the controversial actor on Tuesday night at the premiere of ‘Jeanne Du Barry’, at the opening night film of the Cannes Film Festival. The actor hasn’t been seen in public since his protracted legal struggle with ex-girlfriend Amber Heard in 2022.
Thierry Frémaux, director of the Institut Lumière, of the Lumière Film Festival and the Cannes Film Festival says: «I don’t know about the image of Johnny Depp in the U.S., to tell you the truth, in my life, I only have one rule: It’s the freedom of thinking, and the freedom of speech and acting within a legal framework. If Johnny Depp had been banned from acting in a film, or the film was banned, we wouldn’t be here talking about it.»
Depp received acknowledgements from the audience for his portrayal of King Louis XV, showing the stability of a decades-long career, this time on the Cannes red carpet for the first time since the Pirates of the Caribbean first screening in 2003.
Golden Palma for Michael Douglas
As the recipient of the Honorary Palme d’Or, Michael Douglas joins previous winners Tom Cruise, Jodie Foster, and Agnès Varda.
In honor of his career, the actor received the Honorary Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival ceremony where he was accompanied by his wife Catherine Zeta-Jones, and their daughter, Carys Zeta Douglas.
As part of the commemoration, the festival shows The Prodigal Son, a previously unseen documentary on Douglas’s career directed by Amine Mesta, where the synopsis portrays his father Kirk and their bond through a «remarkable career. The time to learn how to become Michael when your name is Douglas».
Since his first appearance on the French Riviera stage in 1979 when he participated in The China Syndrome, Michael Douglas celebrates over fifty years of cinematic and performative career with outstanding projects such as One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest under his belt. «It is always a breath of fresh air to be at Cannes, which has long provided a wonderful platform for bold creators, artistic audacities, and excellence in storytelling,» Douglas said.
Catherine Zeta-Jones wears Elie Saab
Quite a task to outshone a red carpet when dressed in red. But with the burgundy cherry lush shade of the suave gown, Catherine Zeta-Jones stole the show in Elie Saab. Her daughter wore the same designer for her first red carpet but in a lace-detailed silver-white long dress.
French fashion Maisons were at the core of the 76th festival edition, with Chanel dressing Charlotte Casiraghi and Brie Larson, Dior dressing Uma Thurman, a Balmain attire styled for Emmanuelle Béart and Naomi Campbell in Celinè by Hedi Slimane. Helen Mirren set the tone for future red carpets, proposing a total look in blue with her hair following the same color shade. The fan might become a new IT accessory if stylists are paying attention. The actress’s black fan had written Worth it on it to promote the official L’Oréal Paris slogan You’re Worth It.
However, blockbuster names of the industry hold nothing over less recognized guests. At the red carpet ceremony, we could spot heavy feathers and pop colors from canary yellows to mint greens and electric purples. The lack of bashfulness was channeled in a French manner – shamelessly. Alessandra Ambrosio in 2005 vintage Elie Saab compelled the gala and proposed a silhouette completed by a head-cover detail that marked the beginning of feature trends inspired by this oriental core.
