Fabulous French actor Juliette Binoche getting ultra-emotional in her tribute to the Marvellous Meryl Streep: that Cannes moment couldn’t have belonged to any other film festival. The 77th edition, with the usual celeb-spotting crowds lining up the Croisette, choreographed red carpet appearances, flowery speeches, and standing ovations – the one in which Streep, 74, was awarded an honorary Palme D’Or, was this festival’s first — proves that there really is nothing like the Festival de Cannes, high on glamour, cinema, and the legendary post screening parties and after-parties where the high-rollers and the networkers gather.
Binoche, whose quicksilver expressions have lifted so many endearing parts, spoke about how Streep has helped change ‘how we look at women in the movies’. Without a doubt, over 50 years of being at the job, the latter has done a staggering variety of roles, some accompanied by a change in accent. Of the lot, some have definitely been underlined and mannered, but overall what you see, and what you get, is a woman supremely confident in her own skin, and therefore so successful as a chameleon.
Thanking the audience for not tiring of her face — ‘of not getting off the train’ — Streep’s acceptance speech, while not as teary as Binoche’s, was an acknowledgement of her long journey to get here. Starting with the 1977 ‘Julia’, and following it up with stellar roles in ‘The Deer Hunter’, ‘Kramer vs Kramer’, ‘Sophie’s Choice’, ‘The Devil Wears Prada’, ‘Mamma Mia’, her latest outing in HBO’s smash hit ‘Only Murders In The Building’, is one of the best things about the show’s third season.
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They made such a nice contrasting pair, the ethereal Binoche and the solid-state Streep, as they riffed off each other, one in flaming red and the other in stark white, making a perfect case for a casting director looking to corral top-drawer female talent.
Streep was last on the Riviera 35 years back with Fred Schepisi’s 1988 ‘Evil Angels’, which got her a Best Actress award for her part as a mother accused of being too-stoic over the disappearance over her infant. Whether you have fallen irretrievably under her spell or are one of those happy to take her on a case-to-case basis, there’s no way you can dismiss a Streep performance.
Strong women are making their presence felt in other parts of the festival. The Competition jury this year is headed by ‘Barbie’ director Greta Gerwig, whose patent camaraderie with fellow juror Lily Gladstone as they posed for pictures just before heading in for the opening film, was a gladdening sight. Three other women, Lebanese director Nadine Labaki, French actor Eva Green, Turkish actor and screenwriter Ebru Ceylan, who also happens to be Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s wife and as co-written several acclaimed films (‘Winter Sleep’, ‘About Dry Grasses’, ‘The Wild Pear Tree’), are part of the jury, which also has Japanese director Hirokazu Kor-eda, whose ‘Monster’ won a best screenplay award at last year’s edition, French actor Omar Sy (‘The Intouchables’), Italian actor Pierfrancesco Favino, and Spanish director Juan Antonio Bayona.
Cinema can never be de-linked from the on-going political and social upheavals in the world. This year’s festival is already witnessing a marked rise in the #MeToo conversations, and the tricky question of managing apprehensions of the movement becoming a buzzkill while acknowledging its weight, may prove to be a real challenge. There’s been a marked rise in French actresses coming up with their experiences of sexual harassment lately, and while the focus on cinema at Cannes 2024 has been re-emphasised by the festival director Thierry Fremaux at the opening press conference, there is no way anyone connected with mainstream cinema can choose to operate in silos anymore.
French actor, director and screenwriter Judith Godreche’s short film ‘Moi Aussi’ (Me Too), which documents her own experiences as well as other victims is set to open the Un Certain Regard section. The fact that it has been officially selected means something — the importance of the Cannes Film Festival as a conversation starter-and-multiplier can never be underestimated. And while it may not be enough, at least it is a start.
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