Cannes dessert

Days 6 & 7 Tuesday/Wednesday, May 18 & 19, 2010

The sugary fluff of Stephen Frear’s “Tamara Drewe” unhinged my teeth like marshmallow crème. I wasn’t surprised to see the love for Mr. Frear on the red carpet: who doesn’t love the filmmaker who brought us “The Queen”, “High Fidelity”, “Sammy and Rosie Get Laid”, “My Beautiful Launderette”, “Prick up Your Ears” and more? This was the only film I would go to the red carpet for, the only film I was sure was a slam dunk.

Hah.

“Tamara Drewe” (based on a graphic novel) is indeed like a romance-novel version of “Cold Comfort Farm” with piss poor performances, an illogical plot line, truncated scenes and slap-shot editing. But believe me, I’m the only one who feels this way. The Cannes crowd loved the film; the standing ovation they gave Mr. Frear’s genuine. Even my own filmmakers loved the film, pointing to all the things that made my teeth stand on edge as the very things they loved.

For a split second, I thought about firing my filmmakers. Instead, I had another glass of rosé.

The next morning came what I had been longing for without realizing it. “Of Gods and Men” at first looked unpromising. Monks in a monastery: not usually the stuff of movie magic. But Director Xavier Beauvois (who had played the father in a favorite film of mine, “Ponette”) cast the story of seven monks at a crossroads of faith with pitch-perfect precision. Lambert Wilson, who also shines in the Cannes film “The Princess of Montpensier” and is known to US audiences from “The Matrix” series, is brilliant as Christian, the monk who leads the monastery. But equally stellar are the other actors: Michael Lonsdale as Luc, Olivier Rabourdin as Christopher, Philippe Laudenbach as Celéstin…on and on, not a false note from any of them. I was riveted, immersed and enmeshed, in their story. What a way to end my Cannes, with a film so honest and so unlikely to find an easy theatrical home in the States.

(Sony Classics picked up the film on Friday, so it will make it to theaters back home.)

My moveable Cannes feast had been a success. I was satiated, my thirst slacked. I had seen and been seen, caught a whiff of the current market wave, dined with friends old and new, reminded the film world I was indeed still alive…and lost myself to a handful of films as challenging as any passion could be.

When I first started the festival circuit nearly twenty years ago, I was one of those who saw 8 films a day, existing on cinematic love alone (and sometimes a little popcorn). In twenty years, the festival world has changed, the players have changed, even the films have changed (a little). But, Cinema? Cinema remains.

Á bientôt—until we Cannes again.