If you're anti-AM, like me, the nighthawks of Cannes will make you green with nightlife envy. We saw the glam life of Cannes by day, now it's partytime. Frequent ragers were Marion Cotillard, Hayden Panettiere, Kerry Washington, and the always-fun Kylie Minogue, who performed at various events. So wish I was there . . .
Thanks for participating in Fab's first ever Caption It!. I had to slap this fun pic of Diane Kruger on Fab and was dying to know what witty remarks you would make. Here are my top five, it's up to you to choose the best for Diane. Vote, baby, vote!
If I could attend any fabulous celeb-infused event it would be the Cannes Film Festival. Hands down. Did you follow our coverage? Every day just seemed so fun, glamorous, and fabulously Euro! I'm still flipping through the days of pictures, there was so much I missed. You saw some gowns via my fashion polls, but there was so much more. Photocalls, yachts, and, of course, red-carpet galore. I divided the Fab times into two slideshows — day and night. Wakey wakey eggs and bakey, or should I say croissants and parfait?
>> THE MODELIZER —Lily Cole wasn't the only model who had a film debut at Cannes — Laetitia Casta, who is currently pregnant with her third child, her second by boyfriend Stefano Accorsi, had a movie in competition — Face (trailer here) — which screened Saturday. She wore Givenchy. The film apparently flopped, with half the audience walking out, but Casta already has her next role, playing Brigitte Bardot, carved out — she dyed her hair blonde for it. [AFP]
>> As this year's Cannes Film Festival wound down Friday, fashion fixtures were still going strong that afternoon — Carine Roitfeld pulled out her favorite floppy hat and pair of flats for the Amend Charity Luncheon at Hotel du Cap, Stefano Gabbana hosted Claudia Schiffer and Eva Herzigova on his yacht, and then they all convened that night for Dolce & Gabbana's annual "Fabulous in Cannes" bash at Le Baoli.
The party's guest list was reduced significantly from previous years, and the VIP room completely abolished, but sunglasses were handed out to guests because, Gabbana explained, “All the movie stars wore sunglasses in the Fifties, and at the end of the night when you’re drunk, it’s always better to have a pair.”
Carine, her son Vladimir Restoin-Roitfeld, Anna Dello Russo, Vogue Russia's editor Aliona Doletskaya, Eva, Claudia and a smattering of British it girls all hit the mirrored dance floor, while Natasha Poly reflected on her festival experience: "I'm having so much fun here in Cannes, I already forgot about the stresses of the campaign season. That felt like ages ago."
Host Domenico, too, was elated: "This has truly become our favorite little party of the year. We come here and spend time on Stefano's yacht, see friends, and really leave happy and relaxed." Unfortunately the relaxation didn't last long — as of Monday, the duo could be liable for more than a billion dollars in unpaid taxes, an Italian police spokeswoman confirmed.
The designers have already released a statement denying any wrongdoing — “It’s a paradox! Since when does one have to pay taxes on money one never actually collected? It’s an absurd demand based on a completely abstract calculation. This higher taxable sum . . . is a virtual figure we have never received, the result of a theoretical accounting exercise” — and vow to "strenuously defend ourselves to avoid being unjustly forced to pay for something that never existed in the first place.”
At the end of this year's Cannes Film Festival, the competition's top prize, the Palme d'Or, was handed to Austrian director Michael Haneke for The White Ribbon, a black-and-white drama set in northern Germany during the years before World War I. One viewer describes the film as "[i]mpeccably made with hypnotic skill and control," with a story that is "as disturbing underneath as it is seemingly placid on the surface."
For his well-received drama A Prophet, which follows "a young Arab man's coming of age and into power during six years inside a corrupt, brutal prison," French director Jacques Audiard accepted the Grand Prix prize. The only win for an American film was the best actor prize given to Christoph Waltz, who plays a Nazi colonel in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds. In his speech, "Waltz thanked Tarantino, saying 'with your passion and conviction, you gave me my vocation back.'"
It took about a week for things at the Cannes Film Festival to really heat up, but once Brad, Angelina and Robert arrived it was clear the party had officially started. From the premiere of Inglourious Basterds to star-studded nights out and bikini time on yachts, check out the highlights from this year's celebration.
>> Lily Cole's first film on the major stage, Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, which also happens to have been Heath Ledger's last film due to his untimely death, premiered today at the Cannes Film Festival. So far, the critical reaction has been less than flattering — the Guardian called the film "an awful mess," and Entertainmently Weekly agreed: "The plot's a mess of disconnected episodes, and the circus-y visual style adds to a feeling of . . . quiet desperation."
Some were more hopeful — Variety wrote that Gilliam "made a pretty good thing out of a very bad situation" and the Hollywood Reporter pointed out that "the combined star power involved [Ledger, Johnny Depp, Jude Law, Colin Farrell] will generate a plentiful box office return but the film is not intelligent enough nor silly or grotesque enough to become a lasting favorite."
As for Cole's performance as 16-year-old love interest Valentina, Variety was positive — "Cole nicely hold necessarily caricatured work in check" and the Times UK effulgent: "The revelation is Lily Cole, who is mesmerising as the teenage siren, Valentina. It's her tangos with the various [men] that keep us focused on the romance."
At a press conference this morning, Lily described working with Depp, Law, and Farrell as replacement actors for Ledger as "weird and difficult. You're mourning somebody but at the same time you're immediately going back to work. It's such an unusual environment where you're presented with actors who are playing reminders of that character and that person."
Natasha Poly and Noemie Lenoir joined Lily at the premiere; The film does not yet have a US release date, but is scheduled to open in European theaters this Fall.
Sometimes all it takes is a killer pair of shoes. You know this. A rockin' bod and an unexpected slit help, too. It's all in the details with this one . . . After a week of seeing enviable gowns and glamour at the Cannes Film Festival, there's something fresh and perfect about actress Paz de la Huerta's (not so) minimal look. Earth tones never looked so sexy, and little flesh is exposed here. But you can still see Paz's curves and slender stems. But let's talk about those exquisite black tribal sandals! No info on the genius who designed them yet (anyone know?), but they are little pieces of art. With shoes like that, paring everything else down is key. Paz was promoting her film Enter the Void and she has my undivided attention.
P.S. Honorable mention of the week is Brad Pitt in pink Tom Ford — totally pulls it off.
For more of hot Paz, read more
Hayden Panettiere continued to live it up in Cannes earlier today, getting even more mileage out of her bikini collection. Last night she cozied up to Justin Long at the amfAR gala, but she seems to have her sights set on a different older man. Today was all about the girls though, as Hayden showed off her jet skiing skills with one of her friends hanging on for dear life.
