At The Movies
Written by Dave: The main reason for the Cannes Film Festival is obviously the movies. This is something that is difficult to participate in with two children. There were some ways to still participate, you just had to be creative.
One option is to go to the Cinema de la Plage. This took place on a beach each night of the film festival. You were provided with fairly comfortable lounge chair seating and blankets that we were grateful to have given the cool evenings. We made it to three of the showings.
Jaws, on the Beach, at Night
The first movie we attended was the movie Jaws, which seemed quite appropriate to watch while sitting on the beach. Nancy and Luie stayed home for that one, and Summer and I went together. Richard Dreyfuss was present to discuss the making of the movie, and the multitude of problems that occurred. It was fun to see him, and hear some backstory before the movie started. During the movie, the most spectacular fireworks display I have ever seen took place over the Mediterranean. Here is a short clip of fireworks. It was a fun night.
The Big Blue
The next movie the whole family attend was The Big Blue. It was preceded by an Eric Serra concert. Sitting on the beach during the sunset listening to good music makes for a great evening. Unfortunately, as the screen was being raised after the concert, it tore in the wind and the movie was cancelled. Oh well, we still had a great time. The kids also were able to try some chouchou, French candied peanuts. They were a hit with the kids, and Luie still likes to randomly call out “Chouchou, chouchou,” like the vendor.
The Ladies Man
Our last movie at Cinema de la Plage was the Jerry Lewis movie The Ladies Man. As we had seen him in Cannes the day before on the red carpet, we thought he might show up at the movie. He didn’t, and as the movie played on I remembered that I wasn’t really ever a Jerry Lewis fan. Nancy knew this going in, so was reading a book contentedly. Summer said she couldn’t take much more, and kept asking when we could go. I was watching the French subtitles practicing my French comprehension, and Luie was laughing at the movie. Apparently, Luie was loving it.
Bends
Nancy and I really wanted to make it to a screening of a film in competition, but were finding it hard to leave the kids while we went to a movie. Originally we thought I could take Summer one day, Nancy would take her another day, and Nancy and I would go just ourselves another time. None of the movies appeared to be kid appropriate, so we didn’t take Summer.
On the last day, we finally decided we would try. We gave the kids some activities and chores, and left for a movie. It turned out that it was the last movie we could see, and it was an “in competition” film from Hong Kong, Bends. The dialog was in Chinese, with French subtitles. We ended up trying to read the French, with our limited comprehension facilitated by the visual context of the movie. It was a fun challenge.
When the movie was over, I asked Nancy what the movie meant to her. It turned out that we both had the same view on the movie’s story, with some minor differences of interpretation. I looked up the review later, and it turns out we understood about 75% or so of the movie correctly.
Other Activities Around the Film Fest
Walking up and down the Croisette, you never knew what else you might see. We stumbled on the filming of the French TV show Les Guignols de l’info on the beach. It was all done with puppets, and is a satirical news show that is very popular in France.
There were also several photo props on the walkways to take advantage of. Here is Luie as Captain Jack Sparrow.
Other things that were fun to see were all the exotic cars. Luie thought they were pretty cool also. We saw Lamborghini, Ferrari, Aston Martins, etc. It was amazing the amount of money rolling up and down the Croisette at any given time.
With the festival finishing, it was time to move on. We are off to new locations to see many more new things.