The face of the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, Faye Dunaway
Having attended the world’s most celebrated film festival for two years in a row, I can only claim to be slightly seasoned on all things Cannes. But that certainly doesn’t stop me from reflecting on the differences between 2011′s Festival #64 and this year’s Festival #65.
- The face of Faye Dunaway on every festival poster (2011, above) vs. the face of Marilyn Monroe (2012, below): Dunaway, still acting today, showed up in person last year. Monroe, long absent from our world, never made it to Cannes. In the photos, with both actresses’ eyes looking down, Dunaway appears removed and self-involved while Monroe looks vibrant and amused, a woman-child thrilled with her surprise birthday cake. And yet … it is the happy Monroe who haunts us, a painful reminder of fleeting beauty and mortality everywhere we look. Perhaps it’s more than mere coincidence that this year’s top award of the Palme d’Or went to Amour – a film addressing those very issues. As I’d mentioned in my review, Michael Haneke’s movie examines every wrinkle on the face of once-beautiful actors Emmanuelle Riva and Jean-Louis Trintignant … providing us with a sober meta thread that is inescapable. Just like the omniscient poster of Marilyn herself.
The face of the 2012 Cannes Film Festival, Marilyn Monroe
- The weather misbehaved even more than the underperforming films. The mild sunny skies of 2011 gave way to 2012′s glowering clouds, portentous in their warnings of upcoming rainstorms. So much for the first Sunday’s parties on the beach.
[For the full article and tons of photos of Cannes 2012, please click here. Merci!]