This year, much to my despair, I wasn’t at the Cannes Film Festival. However, this past Cannes weekend reminds me of the one I experienced 2 years ago during the 2011 closing ceremony, and I can’t resist the urge, even with the time gap, to write a little article for you about this magnificent moment.
I attended the entire 64th Cannes Film Festival, but it ended on a high note for me, because I was lucky enough, thanks to Orange, to experience a VIP day on the last day of the festival, and here is the story of that day!
After saying goodbye to my hosts, an official car from Orange came to pick me up at noon to take me to none other than the Martinez!
I’ll let you imagine the effect it has, having walked past this Cannes palace all week, with the onlookers huddled outside, impatiently waiting to see a star come out of the hotel, and then finally, here I am entering it myself, as a guest—it’s a dream!
After checking into the room (and almost choking at the price, good thing it was paid for by Orange…), I headed to the Goéland beach for a seafood lunch. I had heard that there was an incredible chef at the Orange beach, and I would have loved to eat there, but unfortunately, the beach had closed the night before—no luck there…
Afterwards, I finally came back to take possession of my room at the Martinez! I inspected every hallway to see if any stars were hanging around, but no, apparently everyone was getting ready for the evening red carpet walk, and so was I, as I would be walking the red carpet myself.
But before that, I enjoyed the nice weather and the Martinez pool a little—it’s not like I was going to come back the following year (though I haven’t lost hope for next year)…
At 6:15 PM sharp, I was in the lobby, waiting for the car to take me to the foot of the Palais des Festivals. I got in, and we drove towards the steps. Inside the car, I realized I was on the other side, and it felt strange. Let me explain: all week I had been in the crowd, the one watching and envying the cars driving through the secure zones leading to the red carpet. And here I was in one of those cars!…
The car stopped at the foot of the steps, and I waited for someone to come and open the door (yes, you didn’t think I’d do it myself, did you?), and there, behind the window, waving, was Kirsten Dunst. Well, I got out of the car and kept my dignity; just because I was right next to Sofia Coppola‘s favorite actress doesn’t mean I should lose my cool… Okay, I was still a bit in shock. Of course, I didn’t have time to take a picture of her (well, I hadn’t planned for that, we were supposed to go up before the stars, so my camera was buried at the bottom of my bag), but in the tabloids, it looked like this:
Well, let me tell you right away, you don’t want to linger too long on the carpet; every two steps there’s a lady just there to tell you that you can’t stay there… so obviously I arrived at the top of the stairs very, very quickly (yes, because under the carpet, it’s just stairs in the end, right).
I invite you to walk up the steps with me (no, because I know that without proof, you wouldn’t believe I was really there)! The impressive thing, even if you expect it, is the horde of photographers yelling from the sides. It’s actually quite intimidating.
In the end, the whole point of this circus was just to be able to enter the Palace to attend the Closing Ceremony. And to think that a little further down, on stage, was Jude Law… By seeing the photo, you will easily understand why I am disappointed, because indeed, I couldn’t see him very well…
The ceremony was actually quite fast, I think, and unfortunately, since I was a bit high up, it was difficult to take nice pictures for you; well, I did what I could…
I was quite mixed about the awards list.
I am very happy with the choice of Bong Joon-Ho (a South Korean director I really like) for the Caméra d’Or, “Las Acacias”, a film I had enjoyed a lot.
I was also happy for the film “Polisse,” which was one of my favorites from the official competition, and the emotion of Maïwenn when she came to get her prize was very palpable.
For the rest, I was very surprised by the Palme d’Or (which I still haven’t seen, by the way) for “The Tree of Life,” which ultimately seemed to be a rather conventional and unsurprising Palme, since it was the most anticipated film of the competition and yet did not achieve a critical consensus…
And as one might have expected, Terrence Malick, nicknamed “the ghost of the Croisette” during the festival, since no one saw him, didn’t even come to collect his prize in person and kept his share of mystery until the end.
After the screening (which some found a bit long) of “The Beloved” by Christophe Honoré, a director with whom I am not always objective because I have a soft spot for his films and his favorite actor Louis Garrel, I found myself under the starry sky of the Cannes night.
Good surprise: our hosts then took us to dine at the Fouquet’s, the restaurant of the Majestic Barrière hotel. Real class!
I won’t detail the whole menu, but in addition to the magnificent setting on the hotel terrace next to the pool, it was succulent.
The little extra: a large part of the team from the film Polisse was celebrating their award just a few tables away from us… so we were clearly at the place to be for the post-closing ceremony…
After this extraordinary day, I went to bed exhausted but happy in the sheets of the Martinez—what else?
The next morning, I was still able to enjoy the life of luxury with the incredible Martinez breakfast, an all-you-can-eat buffet with a gigantic choice of sweet and savory items. A delight! And then it was already time to take the train back quietly to my little (but supercharged) Parisian life…
I would like to end this article by making an announcement: I really hope to be able to take you along in my suitcase next year if I have the chance to return to Cannes for the 67th festival!
Find all my articles on Cannes and the Film Festival below:
⇒ All my articles on Cannes
⇒ All my articles on the PACA region
MY ARTICLES ON CANNES
⇒ The Cannes Film Festival
⇒ Visiting the city of Cannes
Photo credits: Melle Bon Plan Photos are not royalty-free, photographer's authorization required before any use
