Meryl Streep walked the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday, before the opening ceremony during which she received an honorary Palme d’Or.
Greta Gerwig’s jury, made up of Lily Gladstone, Eva Green and Omar Sy, posed for photographers on the famous steps of the Palais des Festivals.
Messi, the dog from Anatomy of a Fall, the award-winning film at Cannes last year, also did some tricks before the stars arrived.
The 77th edition of the festival, potentially explosive, opened with the French comedy “Le Second Acte”, with Léa Seydoux, Vincent Lindon, Louis Garrel and Raphaël Quenard.
Writer-director Quentin Dupieux’s story takes place in a remote restaurant, where Florence (Seydoux) is eager to introduce the man she loves, David, to her father. But the object of her desire hopes to divert her attention to her friend, Willy.
Presented as a world premiere out of competition, “The Second Act” kicks off a festival which, in the days to come, will also host “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” by George Miller, “Megalopolis” by Francis Ford Coppola, which self-financed, as well as anticipated new films from Paolo Sorrentino, Yorgos Lanthimos, Andrea Arnold and Kevin Costner.
Among the 22 films competing for the Palme d’Or are works by David Cronenberg, Sean Baker, Paul Schrader, Jia Zhng-Ke, Jacques Audiard, Michel Hazanavicius and Emanuel Parvu, as well as Ali’s “The Apprentice.” Abbasi, starring Sebastian Stan as a young Donald Trump.
But much of the drama surrounding this year’s Cannes Film Festival took place off-screen.
After French actress Judith Godrèche earlier this year accused two directors of raping and sexually abusing her when she was a teenager, the French film industry found itself faced with what is arguably his most memorable moment in #MeToo history. On Wednesday, Ms. Godrèche will present her short film “Me Too”.
Festival employees, fed up with short-term contracts that do not allow them to benefit from unemployment benefits between festivals, have threatened to go on strike.
On Monday, Iranian filmmaker Mohammed Rasoulof, whose film “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” will be presented next week in competition at Cannes, said he had fled Iran after being sentenced to eight years in prison and flogging. The film is meant to be a critical depiction of the Iranian regime.
But many will focus on the stars who will walk the Cannes carpet. Among them, Emma Stone, Anya Taylor-Joy, Demi Moore, Selena Gomez, Nicolas Cage and Barry Keoghan. During the closing ceremony on May 25, George Lucas will receive an honorary Palme d’Or.
The film “The Second Act” was also released in French cinemas on Tuesday.