With Julianne Moore as president of the jury and Catherine Deneuve as a guest, the Venice Film Festival, the oldest of the film festivals, which has become a springboard for the Oscars, adorned itself on Wednesday with a touch of prestige for its kick-off. .
Guest of honor, Catherine Deneuve was expected at the beginning of the evening on the red carpet to receive, at the age of 78, a Golden Lion of honor for her entire career. The French star had received the prize for best actress in 1998 for Place Vendômeby Nicole Garcia.
On the meaning of this award, the tireless actress confided: “We are not looking back. It’s not a refusal, it’s that we don’t have time, and that’s not part of my life, it’s mostly that! »
A change of generation with New Yorker Noah Baumbach, who opens the competition with the official screening of White Noiseadapted from a novel by writer Don DeLillo.
The 52-year-old filmmaker, author of Frances Ha, The Meyerowitz Stories and Marriage Story, finds his favorite performers, his companion, Greta Gerwig, and Adam Driver. “It’s a film about life and death. We must accept that they go hand in hand, ”he said at a press conference.
The selection of this film at the opening is a new mark of recognition for the online video giant Netflix, which produced it, and which this year presents no less than four films and a series on the lagoon. In total, 23 feature films (including only 8 by female directors) are in competition for the Golden Lion awarded on September 10.
Twenty years after winning the interpretation prize there for far from heavenJulianne Moore must meet the other members of the jury on Wednesday, including Audrey Diwan, the French director who won the Golden Lion last year, the Iranian Leila Hatami (seen in A separationby Asghar Farhadi) or the Spanish director Rodrigo Sorogoyen.
Marilyn Monroe
Among the highlights of the festival, the expected arrival of a cohort of Hollywood celebrities, always numerous to appreciate the sweetness of the lagoon.
As of Thursday, Cate Blanchett should climb the stairs to Tarby Todd Field, for her role as a brilliant conductor, before yielding the star the next day to Timothée Chalamet.
The Franco-American, champion of the applause meter on the red carpet last year for Dunesis back for Bones and Allby Luca Guadagnino (Call Me By Your Name).
Penélope Cruz is present with two films, a year after her Venetian coronation at Almodóvar, and festival-goers hope to see the landing of British pop phenomenon Harry Styles, starring in the film by his companion, Olivia Wilde (Don’t Worry Darling).
One of the most anticipated celebrities at the turn is probably the Cuban actress Ana de Armas, who was noticed in James Bond girl last year and who takes up the challenge of interpreting Marilyn Monroe 60 years after her death.
This biographical film, directed by Andrew Dominik (The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford), promises to cause a sensation, with a feminist reinterpretation of the life of the cinema icon based on the story of the same title, Blonde hairby novelist Joyce Carol Oates.
Also eagerly awaited by film buffs are the new opuses by Alejandro González Iñárritu (the Revenant), in the form of a return to basics in Mexico, by Darren Aronofsky (Requiem for a Dream), and Joanna Hogg, with the magnetic Tilda Swinton, or Jafar Panahi, imprisoned in Iran, and veterans Walter Hill and Paul Schrader.
French authors are not to be outdone, from Rebecca Zlotowski to Romain Gavras, via the actor who went on to direct Roschdy Zem. Not to mention the playwright Florian Zeller, who, after the success of The Father with Anthony Hopkins, presents The Sonanother adaptation of one of his plays, starring Hugh Jackman and Laura Dern.
The opening and closing ceremonies are broadcast by Canal+, which became the exclusive partner of the Mostra after being replaced by France Télévisions and Brut at the Cannes Film Festival.