Cannes Dispatch. 1.

You know Cannes has officially begun when you see journalist Henri Béhar strolling through the Palais des Festival. Even on Tuesday, the day before the festival officially began, it was nice to see Béhar, who moderates many of the press conferences here, exiting the press office. For those of us who arrived early, it is also possible to tell the festival is nearing when the Croissette (the boulevard that runs along the beach) is closed to traffic, the Carlton Hotel has more billboards for movies than windows and the wait for a table at La Pizza becomes at least a half-hour long.

Of course, the festival only truly begins when the first films roll, and today, Cannes opened with French filmmaker Dominik Moll’s Lemming. Moll’s previous film, With A Friend Like Harry, was all the rage here back in 2000 when Lars Von Trier’s Dancer In The Dark beat it out for the Palm d’Or.

This year, Moll won't be taking the Palm d’Or either; not because his film received a tepid response, but rather, because it isn’t being shown in competition. He doesn’t seem to mind, though. "The actual prizes, that's just a cherry on the cake as it were," he stated earlier in the day, saying that the response from the international press is worth far more important than any trophy. "I am delighted that Lemming is able to benefit from the whole setup here at the Cannes festival."

Lemming is a hard film to write about. Not only does one not want to give too much away, but the story itself becomes quite complicated. It centers around a young, upwardly mobile couple played by Charlotte Gainsbourg and Laurent Lucas. He is a home automation engineer who has moved with his wife to a new town so that he can work for a corporate big shot named Richard Pollock, (played by André Dussollier). As a friendly gesture, Pollock and his wife Alice, played by Cannes favorite Charlotte Rampling, attend a dinner at the young couples house. Unfortunately, the Pollocks get into a heated, strange and quite personal argument which, once they leave, somehow manages to disrupt Gainsbourg and Lucas's happy marriage. Later that same evening, the young couple finds a lemming in the drain pipe of their kitchen sink. Apparently, this is supposed to be some sort of metaphor for the craziness that is about to enter their lives. By morning, the lemming, which was thought to be dead, is discovered to be actually alive and the lives of the two couples begin to become interwoven. Not all for the better, either. The film, which starts out quite promising, turns into a thriller with a little supernatural twist tossed in.

Cross Hitchcock and M Night Shyamalan and you're somewhere in the neighborhood. At least Hitchcock knew when to end his films, for the most part. Lemming overstays its welcome as it devolves into madness. Moll was neither upset nor surprised when journalists compared his film to a Hitchcock thriller. "It's true that I am a great admirer of Hitchcock," he admitted. "I think when I went to film school and saw all his films I learned a lot from him and his films. So I think it's natural that you might have the impression that there are similarities in Lemming."

Charlotte Rampling joined Moll at the press conference. The last time she was in Cannes, it was for another French film, Swimming Pool. A few of the British journalists wanted to know why Rampling was starring in more French than British films. Her answer was quite simple: "The work that has been interesting in the last few years has come from France. Where work comes from doesn’t necessarily have to have anything to do with nationality. It just so happens that perhaps the last two or three films that I’ve done that have been particularly powerful have been French."

Probably the lightest moment came when the Rampling, who turned 60 this past February, was asked why she doesn't work in Hollywood that often. Could it be that Hollywood doesn't cast middle-aged women? Absolutely. "The system in Europe is not so barbaric in terms of the aging process," laughed Rampling. "It doesn't actually matter so much here. If a woman is prepared to age and prepared to take on what that means, which is actually quite beautiful, having a few wrinkles and looking different is no reason to feel that you should be put away. In Europe, thank goodness, they have understood that and I am still around."

The first day of the festival is also traditionally the day that the jury makes a public appearance. Toni Morrison, as a writer rather than a filmmaker, was asked about her qualifications. "I know my judgment is infallible in spite of the fact that I’m not in the industry," she joked. "So I bring you my infallibility and my enthusiasm."

Whoever selects the jury from Cannes must realize they have a couple thousand photographers to impress each night, too. They always manage to sneak some outrageously good-looking actress into the mix, be it Aishwarya Rai in 2003 or Sharon Stone in 2002. Salma Hayek fits the bill this year. She’s been here three times before with films such as Kevin Smith's Dogma and Robert Rodriguez's Desperado. Hayek says this year will be her best experience yet.

"When you are an actress, it is very exciting, but mostly, what you have to do is give interviews and, when you are a juror, mostly what you have to do is watch movies," said Hayek. "When you come with a film to a festival, most of the learning has already been done through the process of making the film and you are just presenting it. When you are a juror, it is in these moments when the visual stimulation is coming to your brain and it's so rich. You get to see so many amazing movies and see them with a virgin eye and, at the same time, you get to see the perspective of these amazing people that I have admired for a long time."

Tomorrow, Woody Allen will bring his latest film, Match Point, to the festival. The advance buzz on the film has been positive, so these "virgin eyes" can't wait to see it.

Posted by dwhudson at May 11, 2005 5:52 PM