The changeover to the Cannes Film Festival is mind-boggling for practically everyone who has spent months in various states of lockdown and caution. Cannes is a deluge even in regular years. But this time, entering into packed theaters and crowds of people on the red carpet seems like stepping into another world.
Ting Poo was still reeling the morning after the Val Kilmer documentary “Val” opened at Cannes. “Yesterday was a dream come true. Just witnessing the movie with a full theater, and at the most prestigious film festival in the world,” Poo remarked. “It was wonderful to go from not being near people to having that experience in a day.”
At Cannes, the pandemic is far from invisible. Even those who have been vaccinated must have a negative COVID-19 test every 48 hours unless they received their shots in the European Union. Indoor, moviegoers wear masks. Everything has a subdued tone to it. Vacancies are common in hotels that are overbooked. Hundreds of people would normally queue outside for screenings, but they aren’t full. To make room, the traditional tuxedoed ticket-seekers have been forced away from the Palais, the festival’s focal point.
However, life is virtually normal on the Cannes red carpet — if “normal” can ever apply to a stretch of carpet where celebrities arrive every few hours like parade floats. Glamour has been revealed, perhaps more than at any previous point in the pandemic’s first year and a half.
The red carpet has looked much as it has in the past few days of the 74th Cannes Film Festival, which is being held two months later than usual and after last year’s edition was canceled outright. Marion Cotillard, Bella Hadid, Matt Damon, Helen Mirren, and Adam Driver have all walked the red carpet, yet Spike Lee and his flamingo-pink Louis Vuitton outfit may have excelled them all in terms of fashion.
Because the carpet is outside, most people don’t wear masks, and most people who attend have been vaccinated — but evidence isn’t necessary. There are also more photographers than normal vying for the attention of the stars.
The show has resumed exactly where it left off. Nature, even the sequined type from Cannes, is a healer. “It’s a little bit like waking up from this two-year snooze doing nothing and suddenly; Boom,” said Avshalom Pollak, star of Nadav Lapid’s emotional Israeli drama “Ahed’s Knee,” which is contending for the Palme d’Or. “It has a very distinct vibe to it because it makes you wonder; where is the world going? Is it going to start over? Is it altering? What exactly is going on here? ”