Members of the Feature Films Jury on stage © Alberto Pizzoli/AFP
71st Festival de Cannes kick off!
A new decade begins for the Festival de Cannes. True to his sardonic style, Edouard Baer, the truculent Master of Ceremonies, sets the tone: this edition promises to be fresh and surprising. On the programme: 21 films, 14 nationalities, new faces and tributes to some of the great names in cinema.
The Festival kicks off with Pierrot le fou, the emblematic film of this edition, in a scene, a dialogue between Jean-Paul Belmondo and Anna Karina: "What can I do? I don't know what to do…" And Edouard Baer, on stage, answers: "Nobody knows what to do, we do our best, the best we can." Accompanied on piano by Gérard Daguerre, the actor launches into a humourous description of the creative process in making a film:
“What are we waiting for? Permission? Inspiration? Write, type and write. Write your verticality, your horizontality.”
Then Thierry Frémaux joins him on stage to introduce the Feature Films Jury:
Denis Villeneuve "who got his start in Cannes",
Chang Chen "who has worked with the very best people in the Asian film world",
Ava DuVernay "a woman of convictions and engagement",
Robert Guédiguian "the most Marseillais of all Armenians",
Kristen Stewart "a wonder child, a prodigious artist",
Andrei Zvyagintsev "compared straight away with Tarkovski",
Léa Seydoux "a very moving actress",
Khadja Nin "for whom art is not film but rather music",
and the President of the Jury, Cate Blanchett, presented in images.
On the screen of the Grand Théâtre Lumière, images of more than two decades of the prolific career of the Australian actress unfurl: Lord of the Rings, Benjamin Button, Carol, Aviator, Blue Jasmine… Until she walks onstage, elegant and radiant, "profoundly honoured to be this year's President".
The full Jury is on stage. Edouard Baer can't resist a joke: "So this is the complete Jury. You are not part of it…." He addresses the audience: "What happened? What went wrong in your careers?" Before wishing them all a "wonderful evening with these unanswered questions…"
Cannes remembers, fifty years ago, when the Festival was scuppered in the events of May 68. That same year, The Thomas Crown Affair won three Oscars, including one for Best Original Song, Les Moulins de mon cœur, by Michel Legrand. On stage, Juliette Armanet performs this song, accompanied on piano by Corentin Kerdraon.
The President Pierre Lescure joins his old friend Edouard Baer at the foot of the stage with a drink. He remembers to mention "the 1,500 young people who will be on the Croisette, selected for the Three Days in Cannes youth pass programme". Then he welcomes a major figure in the film world, Martin Scorsese, who says, "Cate, come over to me". And in unison, in French, they launch the opening words:
“We declare the 71st Festival international du film de Cannes open!”
