The Fort Worth Press - Ageing maestros and strong women at epic Cannes film fest

USD -
AED 3.672975
AFN 68.345223
ALL 91.574579
AMD 389.145335
ANG 1.812375
AOA 912.501926
ARS 1000.57423
AUD 1.5203
AWG 1.8
AZN 1.696854
BAM 1.823845
BBD 2.030401
BDT 120.165991
BGN 1.8241
BHD 0.379074
BIF 2968.993332
BMD 1
BND 1.329137
BOB 6.964144
BRL 5.7379
BSD 1.005642
BTN 84.841703
BWP 13.337063
BYN 3.290903
BYR 19600
BZD 2.02695
CAD 1.39023
CDF 2866.000095
CHF 0.876247
CLF 0.034749
CLP 958.828741
CNY 7.179198
CNH 7.119295
COP 4328.157784
CRC 514.384296
CUC 1
CUP 26.5
CVE 102.82557
CZK 23.587499
DJF 179.073996
DKK 6.962799
DOP 60.558586
DZD 133.324008
EGP 49.337068
ERN 15
ETB 124.505712
EUR 0.933725
FJD 2.238196
FKP 0.765169
GBP 0.775494
GEL 2.719787
GGP 0.765169
GHS 16.491817
GIP 0.765169
GMD 71.498241
GNF 8668.811489
GTQ 7.773581
GYD 210.388399
HKD 7.77508
HNL 25.372313
HRK 6.88903
HTG 132.326199
HUF 380.051036
IDR 15654.85
ILS 3.75032
IMP 0.765169
INR 84.38315
IQD 1317.293794
IRR 42092.500338
ISK 138.739445
JEP 0.765169
JMD 159.54679
JOD 0.709101
JPY 152.657969
KES 129.715112
KGS 86.201522
KHR 4083.55481
KMF 460.374988
KPW 899.999774
KRW 1398.180717
KWD 0.30667
KYD 0.837973
KZT 495.034271
LAK 22070.219611
LBP 90051.475731
LKR 294.204318
LRD 190.562783
LSL 17.597892
LTL 2.95274
LVL 0.60489
LYD 4.879937
MAD 9.930713
MDL 18.035156
MGA 4652.398937
MKD 57.45792
MMK 3247.960992
MNT 3398.000028
MOP 8.051942
MRU 40.06248
MUR 46.378687
MVR 15.450446
MWK 1743.740383
MXN 20.158974
MYR 4.382503
MZN 63.888949
NAD 17.597892
NGN 1668.080383
NIO 37.002844
NOK 11.01955
NPR 135.746724
NZD 1.679155
OMR 0.384818
PAB 1.005642
PEN 3.771996
PGK 4.036928
PHP 58.454996
PKR 279.24409
PLN 4.037582
PYG 7863.104397
QAR 3.6669
RON 4.62889
RSD 109.152998
RUB 98.039216
RWF 1378.467851
SAR 3.755989
SBD 8.340754
SCR 13.420525
SDG 601.502706
SEK 10.83454
SGD 1.326415
SHP 0.765169
SLE 22.850053
SLL 20969.496802
SOS 574.719075
SRD 34.970338
STD 20697.981008
SVC 8.799366
SYP 2512.530268
SZL 17.593137
THB 34.107502
TJS 10.689514
TMT 3.51
TND 3.122208
TOP 2.342103
TRY 34.3625
TTD 6.83359
TWD 32.249774
TZS 2684.944281
UAH 41.514524
UGX 3680.701264
UYU 42.010538
UZS 12858.674873
VEF 3622552.534434
VES 44.647491
VND 25275
VUV 118.722039
WST 2.801184
XAF 611.700471
XAG 0.029645
XAU 0.000367
XCD 2.70255
XDR 0.753952
XOF 611.700471
XPF 111.21369
YER 249.825012
ZAR 17.628345
ZMK 9001.202602
ZMW 27.377256
ZWL 321.999592
  • RBGPF

    61.4000

    61.4

    +100%

  • JRI

    0.1600

    13.53

    +1.18%

  • SCS

    0.0600

    13.14

    +0.46%

  • BCC

    1.4700

    142.32

    +1.03%

  • RELX

    0.3200

    47.98

    +0.67%

  • NGG

    -0.3600

    63.94

    -0.56%

  • GSK

    -0.3700

    36.29

    -1.02%

  • CMSC

    0.1600

    24.84

    +0.64%

  • RIO

    -3.0400

    64.43

    -4.72%

  • BTI

    -0.0100

    35.39

    -0.03%

  • BCE

    0.3000

    28.37

    +1.06%

  • BP

    -0.8800

    28.93

    -3.04%

  • VOD

    -0.0100

    9.31

    -0.11%

  • AZN

    -0.2000

    64.49

    -0.31%

  • RYCEF

    0.0100

    7.15

    +0.14%

  • CMSD

    0.2350

    25.125

    +0.94%

Ageing maestros and strong women at epic Cannes film fest
Ageing maestros and strong women at epic Cannes film fest / Photo: © AFP

Ageing maestros and strong women at epic Cannes film fest

This year's Cannes Film Festival has been an epic mix of ground-breaking women's perspectives and nostalgic homages to icons of the 20th century.

Text size:

As it heads into awards night on Saturday, the 76th edition of the French Riviera festival has been a feast for film-lovers. Here are some of the highlights.

- Old masters -

At times, Cannes felt like a sort of dream retirement home populated by ageing male film icons.

Harrison Ford, 80, showed he still had stamina in "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny", and got weepy when given an honorary Palme d'Or.

Martin Scorsese, 80, and Robert De Niro, 79, brought their new film, "Killers of the Flower Moon".

European auteurs Ken Loach, 86, Marco Bellocchio, 83, Wim Wenders, 77, and Victor Erice, 82, all premiered new films -- Erice with his first in 40 years.

It was notable that many of the starriest attendees made their names in the 1980s and 1990s: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks, Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore, Johnny Depp, Sean Penn, Jude Law.

"Over the last 10 years, we've done a really sh--ty job of creating a new generation of movie stars," one Hollywood agent moaned to Variety.

- Female gaze -

Michael Douglas, 78, who also got an honorary Palme d'Or, regaled the festival with memories of showing erotic thriller "Basic Instinct" here in 1992.

"Watching those sex scenes on the biggest screen I'd ever seen... we had a very quiet dinner afterwards," he quipped.

"The entire range of human behaviour should be accessible to women," said Portman, whose new film "May December" is a campy but complex look at a loving mother with a buried past as a sex offender.

While Jude Law grabbed headlines as a tyrannical King Henry VIII in "Firebrand", the film's spotlight was really on Alicia Vikander as Catherine Parr, trying to escape the fate of the king's previous wives.

Among many other examples were "Four Daughters" about a mother's role in the radicalisation of her children, and "How to Have Sex", a nuanced look at assault and consent among boozed-up Brits abroad.

- Hueller's double -

It was a strong competition this year and Germany's Sandra Hueller starred in two of the most stand-out films.

In "The Zone of Interest" from British director Jonathan Glazer, she chillingly played the wife of a Nazi camp commandant, proud to be known as "the queen of Auschwitz".

The unique film never shows the horrors of the camp, leaving them to be implied by background noises and small visual details.

She also starred in "Anatomy of a Fall", another women-focused film, lauded by critics, about a wife accused of her husband's murder.

- Long films -

Audience patience was tested repeatedly, with Oscar-winner Steve McQueen presenting "Occupied City", a four-hour documentary about Amsterdam.

Scorsese's Native American epic was widely praised though everyone felt the 210-minute runtime was a bit much.

Ditto "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny", which stretched the action out for more than two-and-a-half hours.

A documentary about Chinese workers, "Youth (Spring)" also clocked in at 210 minutes, and director Wang Bing warned he plans two more chapters that will make it over nine hours.

- Fashion -

Helen Mirren got the ball rolling in style with a blue updo on opening night -- but the red carpet was often more understated after that.

The on trend "naked look" was adopted by models Julia Fox and Irina Shayk.

Otherwise, vintage scored the biggest hits: Portman in a recreation of Christian Dior's famous 1949 Junon dress, and Lily-Rose Depp in a classic black sequin number from the Chanel archives.

A.Nunez--TFWP