Ban on selfies helps Cannes hold on to that traditional mystique

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/may/17/film-star-glamour-cannes

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So has the glamour really gone? Last week the hallowed French film star Catherine Deneuve claimed it was not possible for modern audiences “to dream any more” about the stars on the screen. “Being a star entails glamour and secrecy,” she said in Cannes. “You have to keep something for yourself. You shouldn’t display everything of your private life. You see so many pictures, so many images – it’s hard to keep some degree of mystery.”

Cate Blanchett probably has some sympathy with Deneuve’s lament. Her new film Carol, a lesbian love story based on the 1952 Patricia Highsmith novel The Price of Salt, has its premiere on Sunday night and the Oscar-winning actress, who stars alongside Rooney Mara, is due to make her appearance in front of the Palais du Festival with her co-star.

According to the film’s director, Todd Haynes, having both actresses together on the red carpet for the launch is of “huge value” to his film – a difficult sell to wider audiences because of the lesbian theme. But for Blanchett the association with Carol may have already become uncomfortably close. In the runup to the festival, when Blanchett was asked if she had had same-sex relationships before, the married mother of four simply replied: “Yes, many times.” Cue a media feeding frenzy.

But for one of the film’s producers, Briton Stephen Woolley, the focus on the stars is wholly positive. “Stars have always had enormous influence. People can be snobbish about them, but it is what we all love really. And Cate is fantastic because she makes indie films and big Hollywood productions. Having her here means that the film will reach a wider audience.”

Deneuve identified the rise of social media as one of the prime reasons for the loss of mystique. For Gavin Smith, editor of New York’s Film Comment, the proliferation of stories, blogs, images and tweets is altering the equilibrium of the star system, but it still exists.

“Some stars keep quiet and others, like James Franco, tweet a lot. Twitter and the internet have created a lot of micro-stars,” he said. “They are still there, though the constellation is more populous and some may not last as long. Careers are measured by the number of followers they have.”

As the star debate swept the Croisette, festival director Thierry Frémaux decreed an impromptu ban on “selfies”, arguing: “You never look as ugly as you do in a selfie.”

Perhaps more than anywhere, Cannes thrives in direct relation to the amount of old world glamour it can summon up against the forces of the modern world.

Luckily for Frémaux, the public is still under Cannes’s spell, with tourists snapping themselves in front of the festival’s Palme d’Or logo and even taking screen grabs inside the cinemas. Even in the first few days of the festival, female Hollywood stars have shone on the red carpet as much, if not more, than they have on screen, making the most of their moment of self-promotion and glamour.

Emma Stone, who has a lead role in Woody Allen’s new film Irrational Man, and Rachel Weisz, whose new film, The Lobster, also had its premiere on Friday, both knew how to play their press conferences. A touch of stylish reserve, coupled with a flash of wit – Stone teased Allen about his lack of guidance on the last scene of the film and Weisz teased her director, Yorgos Lanthimos, about the suggestion that his inspiration came from an episode of the sitcom Friends.

The glamour quotient on the Cannes jury this year is filled by British actress Sienna Miller. She has expressed her honour at getting the prestigious role, but her weight as a creative expert was undermined at a press conference when a fellow juror, musician Rokia Traoré, was described as “beautiful enough to be an actress”.

Looks clearly remain a central part of the job description of a star at Cannes 2015, whether it is the model Miranda Kerr launching a new ice-cream on the beach or Isabella Rossellini, star of independent foreign cinema, being brought up short by the huge image of her mother, Ingrid Bergman, on this year’s festival poster. “Yesterday, as I was walking up the red carpet, with Mama enormous, I got up to Thierry Frémaux. I said ‘Thierry, I don’t miss her any more. Thirty years since she died, she’s so present. It’s wonderful,’” she said.

Other screen idols are doing a clever job in avoiding the over-exposure of which Deneuve warns. A leading Hollywood producer spoke admiringly of the way Leonardo DiCaprio handles his image. “The thing is not to do too much in the public eye and Leo understands this. He keeps himself private and then suddenly he is everywhere when he needs to be,” he said.

He didn’t think the selfie had changed things, but rather TV shows and websites devoted to unbuttoning the stars in public. Casting directors still need A-listers to open films: these are actors whom “the screen loves” and who have a professional approach to fame.

With the timing of the premiere of The Lobster reportedly dictated by the availability of its French star, Léa Seydoux – shortly after Charlize Theron, in town for Mad Max, chose the Cannes red carpet to appear arm in arm with Sean Penn – both the personal and professional power of stardom is clearly in evidence. Pace Deneuve, reports of the death of the film star may have been exaggerated.