Cannes 2012 - Tuesday 22 May
Posted on May 22, 2012 by Tilly Walnes
Categories: Festival Reports
My very first time in Cannes and to say I’m a little excited to be here is a big understatement. I’m very lucky to have my colleague Becky as my guide, she’s full of beans for the festival, has glorious skills and know-how when it comes to planning a full day of films – plus it’s a joy to have a companion for the long queues and umbrella-holding duty!
I’ve heard it can be hard to get into films here even after hours of queuing, so it was a bit of a thrill to have success with our first attempt and first film, Le Grand Soir (dir. Gustave de Kervern and Benot Delpine), a French satire with a not so subtle message that modern consumer life (in suburban France anyway) is rubbish. It’s about two emotionally estranged brothers: one, Not, the self-proclaimed ‘oldest punk in Europe with a dog’, who voluntarily lives a contented life on the streets and Jean-Pierre, a straight-laced mattress salesman. When the pressures of Jean-Pierre’s work and marriage finally make him snap, his brother takes him under his wing, liberating him from his capitalist hell through some benign anti-establishment anarchy and mayhem.
Aside from some well-timed physical slapstick the mania and broad nature of the humour may not travel well, but the French contingency in the audience laughed heartily (and a few individuals hysterically). Me? Not so much but I was entertained, enjoyed the Euro punk soundtrack and a memorable cameo from loveable juggernaught Gerard Depardieu as a mystic fortune teller who can see into the future!
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