You have to come to Cannes to truly appreciate it. Just returned from sipping cocktails on the Carlton Terrace where celebrities float in and out of the grandest hotel on the Croisette…whilst the music’s thumping at the beach parties on the other side of the road, the night lit up by purple fluorescent lights and the palm trees glowing bright green with strings of lights twirled around their trunks, like sparkling necklaces. It’s so bright. So alive. And it’s 2 am.
This is Cannes. So awake and sparkling at night. And by day…we sit in movie houses, in the dark, and escape into a landscape of love, drama, tragedy and exhiliration. This is the Cannes I love. The Cannes Film Festival that celebrates its 65th anniversary this year…and still holds the promise of eternity for everyone who steps into its magical playground.
We swung by the Majestic Hotel on the way to the Carlton, in time to see a very un-good-looking man climb into his Bugatti, the most expensive legal car on the planet at the moment at a cool $2,4-million. I think I far prefer the tiny little official Cannes Film Festival cars, made by Renault, that have been zooting around town (see pic below).
Don't you love this little car? So Cannes this year! Pictured here at Palm Beach in Cannes.
Saw a beautiful movie this morning, set on the Mississipi River – “Mud” – starring Matthew McConnaughy (the ‘discovery’ of this year’s festival), Reese Witherspoon and two talented young boys who Reese spent time ‘mothering’. She said it’s because they’re around the age she was when she went to her first film festival – Deauville (in the north of France) – when she was just 14, and so she knows how it feels and what exciting careers they have ahead of them.
Tomorrow the Palme D’Or winners will be announced. We’ll spend all day watching the movies we didn’t get time to see during the past 11 days. I can’t wait!
Mud Press Conference (L-R): Reese Witherspoon, writer/director Jeff Nichols, Matthew McConaughey, Tye Sheridan