by Cannes is what France has to Lancashire’s Lytham St Annes. Both are small seaside towns, slightly better than their neighbours. Both have pleasant beaches, a long history of sea bathing and many retired people.
The main difference is that while Lytham St Annes has potted prawns, Cannes has the biggest film festival in the world. Depending on who you listen to, it’s the second or third media event on the planet (after the Olympics and, perhaps, the World Cup in football).
77 this yearth The layout starts in the Palais des Festivals of the holiday Riviera on May 14. Camille Cottin (of Call My Agent!) hosted the opening ceremony, Greta Gerwig (Barbie director) who heads the main jury, which awards the Palme-d’Or prize.
Cannes didn’t emerge as the film festival capital by accident. He spent generations going there.
In fact, Cannes-as-Riviera-resort was founded by a British aristo – Lord Brougham, former Lord Chancellor.
He arrived in 1834 in what was then a poverty-stricken fishing port. He liked the place, built a classic villa on a road out of town and called it Villa Eléonore-Louise, after his daughter who died while building it. You can still see the villa – yellow ocher, pillars, now faded into apartments – as you look through the private development at 24 Avenue Dr Picaud.
Founded by Brougham, the big, good and borderline bonkers continued, making Cannes the fashionable people of northern Europe, Russia and the United States. The old fishing port was in full swing, entering the world as a center of excitement, wealth and debauchery.
For all these reasons, Cannes was an obvious candidate when, in 1938, the French decided they needed a proper film event. They received many of the Venice International Film Festival, the oldest in the world, which, under pressure from Hitler and Mussolini, had awarded its 1938 prize to Leni Riefenstahl Olympia, a well-muscled paean in praise of fascism.
Thus, the French event began on September 1, 1939. Great films were recorded – The Wizard Of OzKorda on Four FeathersCecil B. DeMille’s Pacific Union – and movie stars such as Tyrone Power, Gary Cooper and Mae West flew in to swim in yachts in the bay. Then Germany invaded Poland. France (and Britain) declared war on Germany two days later, on 3 September. Cannes was cancelled.
The frolic of the film festival was forgotten until 1946. The relaunch featured fireworks, floats, pigeons, a beauty contest, and films from 21 countries, 11 of which took first place. Among them was that of David Lean Brief ContactBilly Wilder on Lost WeekendRossellini on Rome, Open City and, in an all-award-winning initiative, Fridrikh Ermler’s Soviet war film, The Turning Point. In the early years, the emphasis was as much on celebrating cinema as on competition. Almost everyone won something.
In 1955, the main Palme d’Or award replaced the many previous awards. Cannes continued its roll, strengthened by necessary controversy. The 1968 festival was marred by the May riots in Paris. Filmmakers Truffaut, Godard and Louis Malle felt that Cannes should show solidarity with the protesters, so the festival was abandoned.
Marco Ferreri movie 1973 La Grande Bouffe – where old men were eating themselves to death – the festival goers were throwing down. It still won the Critics Award. Novelist Françoise Sagan – president of the festival in 1979 – caused outrage when she claimed that the jury was pressured to award the Palme d’Or to Apocalypse Now. In retaliation, the organizers of the festival decided not to pay her expenses.
Four years later, The French actress Isabelle Adjani upset many by refusing to play for photo shoots – for her name among the snappers as a diva.
Then all the booing is done. Some films, even winners, are less respected than others. Maurice Pialat’s victory in 1987 Under the sun of Satan was greeted with a volley of catcalls. The French director did not flinch. “I don’t like you,” he shouted from the stage. “And I can tell you that I don’t like you, either.” Then he accepted Catherine Deneuve. A few years later, Quentin Tarantino pointed the finger at an audience member who shouted “what c**p!” When Pulp Fiction took gold
In 2011, Lars Von Trier ruffled feathers by apparently coming out in favor of Hitler. A few years earlier, films with excessively long rape scenes were the cause of hue and cry such as Gaspar Noé’s film. Unchangeable.
But Cannes’ momentum is unstoppable; film-world scandal adds to it. This year, there will be new films by David Cronenberg, Francis Ford Coppola, Paul Schrader and, on opening night, Quentin Dupieux with Le Deuxieme Acte. Omar Sy, of Lupine fame, and Eva Green will join Greta Gerwig on the main jury, Kevin Costner will fly in for his Horizon, American Saga Magnum opus and George Lucas will be in Cannes to receive the Palme d’Or d’Honneur for his entire oeuvre. There will be others, loads of them.
La Croisette promenade, with the Palace hotels on its line, will be triumphant. All this means that this is a very good time not to be there. Hotel prices are skyrocketing, you’ll pay way more for Perrier, you won’t be getting into any Sharon Stone-hosted parties, and security men posing as grumpy dinosaurs are ubiquitous. It is far from cheerful or relaxing.
If you do indeed go another time, you will soon notice one thing: that the great achievement of Cannes is the glamor of the festival being spun throughout the whole year. Of course, the promenade and the bay are glorious and there are sandy beaches, but nothing like this is known in other parts of the Mediterranean.
What distinguishes Cannes is the sparkling, film-driven veneer with its own coat of arms. There are movie star and cocktail rooms, wall-filling movie star murals, movie star handprints at the Palais des Festivals and movie memorabilia everywhere. You’d think Brad, Matt and George and Jodie and Cate Blanchett hung out here all the time. Spoiler alert: they are not.
Beneath the bright surface – the fizz, foam and froth – there’s not much going on. “Weight” is the word. And Cannes is the better. Weightlessness is a virtue in a world of rather weighty places. You can walk La Croisette. It is glorious.
You will walk up Le Suquet hill, where Cannes was crammed in, tight and steep, when the fishing was his thing. At the top, the Muséé des Explorations du Monde skips among the cultures of the world, the only museum you need to see, and if it’s not raining.
You could take a trip out to one of the islands – favor Sainte-Marguerite over Saint-Honorat; The Man In The Iron Mask was then installed in the Fort Royal – and your duty is done. You are free to do what you have always wanted to do: shop, eat, drink and go to the beach, suspend disbelief and buy with the illusion that you are as groovy as can be.
I tried the same in Lytham St Annes. It almost works.
Plan the perfect break in Cannes with our expert guide.
How to discover the French Riviera without enduring the Cannes crowds
Spring on the Riviera is the best of all seasons. I wouldn’t waste it on the fake excitement of the festival.
Instead, try the big city seaside buzz of Nice. The Riviera capital thrives whether visitors come or not. Book The Deck Hotel (+33 492 144020; May doubles from £96).
Calm is better? Is it peaceful? A little more modest? Go to Agay, near St Raphaël, where the red rocks of the Esterel mountain lead to one of the most beautiful bays in France. The Relais d’Agay is the place to stay (+33 494 827820; May doubles from £55).
Menton, on the other hand, falls in between the two – calm enough for the farmers, but with enough vibrancy, day and night, which the farmers also want. The Riva Waterfront Hotel costs from £104 in May (+33 492 109210).
Whichever option you choose, fly to Nice from all London airports, and many regional airports with, in particular, British Airways, Ryanair and easyJet. Prices vary widely, depending on airline, departure airport and date of flight.
Plan the perfect holiday on the French Riviera with our expert guide.
