Cannes Film Festival kicked off its 77th edition with opening night film The Second Act, an apt title for the French event that kicked off with clear skies and a festive mood after days of looming strikes, #MeToo rumours and a high tension geopolitical landscape.
General delegate Thierry Fremaux set the tone for the evening by walking casually to the Lumiere theatre with microphone in hand with a simple “good evening everyone - Quentin Dupieux” as the director and his starry cast including Lea Seydoux and Louis Garrel took their seats.
French actress Camille Cottin emceed the evening with a blend of humour and sarcasm, referencing the fact that just four women were in a male-dominated competition.
The French film industry has been able to collectively breathe a sigh of relief after Mediapart announced on the eve of the festival that, despite rampant rumours, it was not planning to unveil a bombshell #MeToo-related report. A top media executive with several films in selection told Screen: “It was complicated but now we can breathe. Everyone is relaxed now.”
The rain also cleared just in time for the red carpet steps to open.
Inside the Palais, protocol was par for the course with a by-the-book ceremony that welcomed the Competition jury Lily Gladstone, Eva Green, Omar Sy, Ebru Ceylan, Nadine Labaki, Juan Antonio Bayona, Pierfrancesco Favino and Hirokazu Kore-eda.
Jury president Greta Gerwig took the stage to pay homage to France’s seventh art, saying: “I love cinema and this is holy to me. Art is sacred and films are sacred and I cannot believe I am getting the opportunity to spend the next ten days in this house of worship.”
The jury will award the Palme d’Or to one of the 22 films in Competition at the closing ceremony on May 25 following last year’s winner Anatomy Of A Fall.
Cottin told Gerwig: “Dear Greta, you’re a gift for the festival so the festival has a gift for you”, before showing a retrospective of her films complete with a live concert from Zaho de Sagazan who serenaded Gerwig and the audience with David Bowie’s ’Modern Love’.
Meryl Streep received an honourary Palme d’Or for her career, complete with an ebullient standing ovation. The award was presented by Juliette Binoche who was moved to tears as she told Streep, “You changed the way we look at women in the cinema world and helped us to look at ourselves differently.”
Streep thanked Cannes for inviting her back after 35 years.
She said when she was last in Cannes she was about to turn 40 and thought her career was over and thanked everyone in the room: “I’m so grateful you haven’t gotten sick of my face, that you haven’t gotten off of the train.”
She cited her mother who once told her: “Meryl darling, it all goes so fast – and it had and it does except for my speech which is too long.”
Also topping off what was a female-powered festive night, this year the voice announcing arrivals on the red carpet was that of a woman for the first time in festival history.
Cannes Film Festival runs through May 25.
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