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General Articles

Yes, We Cannes!

High hopes, heels and hauture, Anna & I took to the red carpet for some lights, camera and action.

It was with great excitement and not a little concern over our Manolo Blahnik’s that Anna & I sallied forth to the 63rd Cannes Film Festival. We were invited as guests of Rosana Golden and Dean Bentley, the dynamic couple behind Angel Film Awards.

I have to report that neither Anna nor yours truly fell indelicately out of a car ending up sprawled on a pavement, nor did we fall out of our frocks as these ‘accidentally on purpose’ mad/sad bids for fame had already been done. Yet, we did grab the attention of the paparazzi and found ourselves hassled by Hasselblads all the way along the Croisette. It has to be one of the strangest experiences of my life and I felt if this was my Warhol few minutes of fame, it was not for some worthwhile contribution to society, but because I was wearing a posh frock. Could be worse, I suppose!

Cannes struck me as fulfilling the wonderful expression of describing certain English & French words as ‘false friends’. There is a very thin, very rich veneer masking huge insecurities and even more huge egos at professional and personal levels. Everyone is so intent on watching their backs in case someone stabs them and their fronts in case their smile slips.

If the maitre of a certain Cannes hotel owns a Ferrari, how do you upstage that? I’ll tell you; you drink martinis with real gold flecks in them at a party where no expense was spared to woo the big-headed actors. And I’m not alluding to their over-sized egos, but their hat size. I read that the bigger the actor’s head, the bigger the movie star. Note to self, if I meet any actors ,must compliment them on their big-headedness. It’s a lot to for a girl to take in, oversized bonces, shaken not stirred gold cocktails and Ferrari driving head waiters.

Much more worthy of stirring strong emotion was the screening of ‘Hors Le Loi’ (Outside the Law). This film depicting the still controversial war in Algeria had protesters comprising both French and Algerian veterans and right-wing politicians making their feelings known in front of the red carpet. The director hoped the film would ‘foster open debate’.

Yet, this film and the subsequent protest was eclipsed by headlines such as ‘Cheryl Cole braves protesters at Cannes’ and accompanied by a photo of Ms Cole in revealing dress. (Someone should have told her that Liz Hurley did it better in black years ago). The article continued “It is not known if Cole spotted the riot police guarding the red carpet with batons and shields, or if she had any idea what the film was about as she posed for photographs in a white bandage dress split to the thigh.’ I wonder if the irony of wearing a ‘bandage’ dress in front of casualties of war was lost also. I guess if you can’t spot riot police in full gear, you’ve got little chance with irony.

It is sad that such superficiality abounds, Lindsay Lohan caught the headlines for having a warrant for her arrest issued. She argued she was at the film festival on important business; promoting her next film, which hasn’t yet started filming. She too suffers from selective blindness as she didn’t know what the white powder next to her was. I’m starting to think actors need bigger eyes, not heads!

Cannes Film Festival has always thrived on the celebrities who attend creating such visuals that are sometimes greater than the movies they come to promote. Here the truth is often stranger than movie fiction. I’m unsure if it’s life imitating art, or art imitating life. And for a frivolous two weeks in the south of France sunshine, does it matter?

And so as sunset hit the boulevard, I too “am ready for my close up Mr de Mille.”

 

 

Tuesday, 1 June 2010    Section: General Articles
Article tags: cannes festival
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