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Catherine Denueve presides over everything. And not only now that his enormous image hangs from his own hair like the Baron of Münchhausen from the immense front of the Palais to a Croissette adorned with petunias (yes, they are petunias). Catherine Deneuve always presides over everything. The 76th edition of the Cannes Film Festival starts with the same clarity and forcefulness with which the diva always does who, to the derision of almost everyone, long ago said that, in general, "it is better to be a beautiful woman than an intelligent woman because, for the short understanding of men, it does not take much to be intelligent". Let's see who overcomes that.

And having said this by way of a long change, the controversy of the day. Thierry Fremaux, the festival's director, appeared before reporters on Monday with a riddle to solve: "Has Cannes really become a space to celebrate rapists?" The question was formulated before the press on account of the recent statements of the actress Adele Haenel ('Portrait of a woman on fire' and 'The unknown girl') who, after announcing that she was leaving the interpretation for political reasons, was heading to the contest a few days ago with this statement: "Cannes seems willing to do anything to defend rapists". And in the group of those mentioned included Roman Polanski, Gerard Depardieu and, attentively, Johnny Depp (also Dominique Boutonnat, president of the equivalent of the Film Institute in France). All with open, closed or half-hearted causes.

Fremaux, obviously, not only disagrees but questioned the actress and even asked her rhetorically if she thought the same thing when she was an actress on the red carpet. In passing, he pointed to those in front of him and, looking them in the eye, commented: "You yourselves would be so worried about tickets (the online system of acquiring passes fails from time to time) if you thought that." I was talking to the press.

In the Johnny Depp issue, Fremaux dragged on. Recall that French director Maiwenn's film, Jeanne du Barry, opens all of this on Tuesday. "In my life, I only have one rule, which is freedom to think and freedom of speech and action within a legal framework," he said. He continued: "Whether Johnny Depp had been banned from acting in a film, or if the film had been banned, it would be another matter. But none of that has happened. No one protested seeing Depp in a French movie. Controversy arose when the film was announced at Cannes. I understand because we are a focus of attention and it is good that the festival serves to discuss issues outside the cinema." And, to make everything clear, one more: "I am the last person interested in Depp's life. If there is anyone in this world who did not find the slightest interest in the much-publicized trial against him, it is me. I only care about Johnny Depp as an actor."

And at this point, Fremaux asked no further questions. Neither rhetoric nor others.

For the rest, the main lines of the contest that begins now are well known. Next to the bulky headlines that have to do with the return to the French Riviera of Scorsese by the hand of his first 'western' ('Killers of the flower moon') and the urbi et orbi presentation of the fifth installment of 'Indiana Jones' with its protagonist in the 80s and with the promise of a trip through time, The Official Section recovers point by point to the complete santoral. The Japanese Hirokazu Kore-eda, the Italian Nanni Moretti, the Turkish Nuri Bilge Ceylan, the British Ken Loach and the German Wim Wenders, all with a minimum of one Palme d'Or to their credit, share the official section with the Americans Wes Anderson and Todd Haynes, the Italians Marco Bellocchio and Alice Rohrwacher, the Finnish Aki Kaurismaki, the Chinese Wang Bing, the French-Vietnamese Tran Anh Hung, the British Jonathan Glazer, the French Catherine Breillat, Catherine Corsini, Justine Trier and Maiwenn, and the Swiss Jessica Hausner. All regulars or acquaintances with the right to rub the most famous red carpet in the world.

Aren't they always the same? Hasn't Cannes become a private club of film directors with shares in subtitling companies? "No," replies the director of all this. "The idea is never to renounce the men who have made cinema great and Cannes itself, but, yes, right next to a new generation that will define the cinema of the future," he continues. And it is here that Fremaux places the only debut film that appears on the list of honor, 'Banele e Adama', by the Senegalese Ramata-Toulaye Sy, and the only documentary in play, 'Les Filles d'Olfa', by the Tunisian Kaouther Ben Hania. It also places newcomers to the division of honor, although not new to Cannes, the Brazilian Karim Aïnoz and the Frenchman Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire. He maintains that in the situation of uncertainty that we live, the best thing is to move towards the future without renouncing the past. That much is clear.

And then there is, related to the polemic of the principle, the issue of parity. For the first time there are seven women in competition. "In the same way that I didn't accept recriminations when there were no women selected, I didn't accept flattery now that there are. We have limited ourselves to valuing the films and we are proof that things are changing," Fremaux said. But isn't it the responsibility of an institution like Cannes to push for those things to change? Answer: "Of course. Whenever there is equality, we elect women. Whenever there is equality, we opt for underrepresented countries. But we don't misappropriate decisions. Each time the presence and voice of women is clearer and more present. For a long time we have lost a point of view that we are recovering... But it's society that changes."

And at this point, Catherine Deneuve. She and the petunias.

  • cinema
  • Cannes Film Festival
  • Films

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