The last two competition films, Jim Jarmusch's "Only Lovers Left Behind" and Roman Polanski's "Venus in Fur", were minor pleasures. Meanwhile, Kechiche's "Blue is the Warmest Color" and Farhadi's "The Past" are among frontrunners for the Palme d'Or.
As "Cannes fatigue" set in, James Gray's long-awaited "The Immigrant", a solid, but uninspired period drama starring Marion Cotillard, screened for the press. Meanwhile, French directors François Ozon and Abdellatif Kechiche sparked controversy.
France’s Catholic extremists are up in arms again, this time over gutsy Women’s Rights Minister Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, who has been described as “an agent of Satan” after she was invited to speak at a ceremony commemorating the death of Joan of Arc.
Cannes' competition soared Thursday with French-Tunisian director Abdellatif Kechiche's "La Vie d'Adèle" ("Blue is the Warmest Color"), a brilliantly acted, intensely erotic three-hour drama about a teenage girl in love with a slightly older woman.
Les Heures Heureuses de Paris, a French reinterpretation of the traditional Happy Hour, invites the public to sample the capital’s varied and often delectable cuisine from May 22-24 at just two euros per tasting.
Ryan Gosling was a no-show for the competition entry he headlines, Nicolas Winding Refn's "Only God Forgives", and Chadian crime film "Grigris" was underwhelming. Meanwhile, juror Lynne Ramsay told us what she's looking for in a Palme d'Or winner.
Valéria Bruni Tedeschi's "Un chateau en Italie" ("A Castle in Italy") was all but forgotten when Michael Douglas and Matt Damon stepped in the spotlight as lovers in Steven Soderbergh's entertaining competition entry "Behind the Candelabra".
Outside the main competition, two thrillers struck a nerve at Cannes the last two days: American Jeremy Saulnier's "Blue Ruin", about a drifter out for blood, and Palestinian Hany Abu-Assad's "Omar", about young men fighting the Israeli occupation.
The Cannes competition screened its strongest film yet Sunday: the Coen brothers' deeply felt deadpan comedy "Inside Llewyn Davis", about a struggling folk singer in 1960s New York. The cast features Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan and Justin Timberlake.
Though Cannes had an action-packed 24 hours (a jewel heist, a man firing blanks into a crowd), competition films from Arnaud Desplechin and Kore-eda Hirokazu were sluggish. A meal prepared by a chef to the stars was consolation.
