CANNES #78: DAY 1

With everything that is French about the Cannes film festival, the location, the films, the celebration of France itself, the 78th Cannes film festival notably made room on opening night, May 13, for a strong American presence.

It started with Halle Berry and Jeremy Strong taking their place on the jury. Then Leo DiCaprio came out and made an elegant introduction for this year’s honorary Lifetime Palme D’Or, Robert De Niro, crediting him as an inspiration to every kid in his generation who wanted to act. It was DeNiro who gave him the thumbs up to play against him in This Boy’s Life in 1991. The festival played a sizzle reel of clips from DeNiro’s career, tough guy, tender guy, hero, devil. And Cannes stepped up to award DeNiro almost as if he. like De Gaulle 80 years ago, was the government in exile.

DeNiro did not disappoint, taking aim at the 100% tariffs on overseas productions proposed by Trump – a name he pointedly did not say. He was not an awards kind of guy, DeNiro imparted, but felt it was important to show up to acknowledge his community, filmmaking, and its role in public life to stand against the rise of anti-democratic power. That’s what art does, speaks truth about the misuse of power. To hear DeNiro say it on Opening Night, which is a European event, it is not lost on filmmakers that film is one of the last guardrails left.

Rounding out the big American display, Quentin Tarantino bounded out from the wings to officially open the festival goofing on the style of American carnival barker. “I declare the 78th Cannes Film Festival OOOPENNN!!” before bounding again off stage right to the party out back of the Palais.

Americans onhand took heart: in Cannes, which is the culture capital of Europe for 10 days, there is still a very strong appreciation for American directors, actors, screenwriters, the art, ingenuity, love of narrative, and the true voice of America in cinema.

Going into this festival, I was concerned that Americans would be personae non grata in Cannes. Not so. Kristen Stewart, Scarlett Johansson and Spike Lee with Denzel Washington all have much want-to-see films here. At the direction of its chief programming delegate, Thierry Fremaux, Cannes still very much wants American art power on its stage. – Susan Jacobson with Harlan Jacobson

Like most opening night films at most festivals, Partir un jour (Leave One Day) by Ámelie Bonnin, about a woman Top Chef on the eve of the opening of her first big restaurant in Paris called home to her parents’ truck stop diner, erred on the superficial side of superficial depth.

The nut of it recalls the old Jimmy Durante song, “Didja Ever Have the Feeling That You Wanted To Go But You Wanted to Stay?” from The Man Who Came to Dinner in 1941. That describes top chef Cécile’s dilemma once she gets home: she’s mired in what shrinks call an age regression at the center of conflicts that return in each new generation of women.

Raphael, the old boyfriend now owns the town garage and, played by Bastien Bouillon, is the kind of motorhead with blonde highlights who is all fun. He still does wheelies on his motorcycle. But oops, he also married a girl from the class Cécile doesn’t even remember, with whom he has a kid. This is France, and he still has a thing for Cécile. To this old man on the edge of the arts, of which cheffing is the new generational terrain, this is no conflict. But to Bonnin it articulates which female voice inside is stronger: the one she was given or the one she is making.

There’s the intentional wistfulness of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg in the plot of Partir Un Jour — big city glam girl and village ex-boyfriend in a garage who here circle each other longingly. The feminism of Bonnin’s heroine, Cécile, is that she’s earned her career in Paris, where Jacque Demy’s Catherine Deneuve married her way up and out. Sledgehammer that. Juliette Armanet as Cécile is pointedly a downmarket classic Gaul in dress and profile, while Deneuve was France’s answer to Grace Kelly, a fine featured porcelain of the ruling class.

Cécile’s Paris boyfriend, Sofiane (Tewfil Jallab) is major cosmopolitan material as her chef colleague by whom she’s pregnant but is conflicted about planning to terminate, as per their agreement 10 years earlier. He shows up to see why she’s disappeared, and the old and new boyfriends get into a macho dance-off from Saturday Night Fever. Every so often Cécile or the old boyfriend in particular bursts into song, á là 50’s musicals—but Armanet is no Emilia Perez, and Bonnin is no Audiard in staying ahead of the disbelief. It is not suspended. – Harlan Jacobson