20. A woman with an amputated leg is asked to wear heels, 2015
Part of Cannes' charm is tied to the old-school glamour of cinema. But that glamour often comes at the expense of logic and practicality. In 2015, several women were barred from entering the gala screening of the film "Carol" because they had not respected the rule that women had to wear high heels.
The same thing happened to producer Valeria Richter, although part of her left leg was amputated. A year later, Julia Roberts expressed her displeasure by walking barefoot on the red carpet.
19. Tarantino gives the middle finger to a critic, 1994
Cannes has earned a reputation as a place where the public can freely express their opinions, but filmmakers can also respond just as openly. A clear example occurred in 1994, when “Pulp Fiction” won the Palme d'Or to thunderous applause.
As the applause died down, a female voice from the audience called the film “trash.” Quentin Tarantino responded by giving her the middle finger.
18. Nobody Photographs Isabelle Adjani, 1983
In 1983, Isabelle Adjani was at the height of her fame, but she was struggling with the excessive press attention. While in Cannes for the film "One Deadly Summer," she decided to avoid the traditional photo shoot after the press conference.
The photographers did not take this decision well. When Adjani appeared on the red carpet for the film's premiere, they lowered their cameras and turned their backs on him.
17. The Palme d'Or winner is booed, 2011
Sometimes a film at Cannes manages to elicit both boos and applause. Terrence Malick's "The Tree of Life," his first film in six years and only his fifth since 1973, did just that.
The slow pace and long segments about the birth of the universe caused the film to be heavily booed by critics and journalists upon its first screening. However, it won the Palme d'Or.
16. Sophie Marceau exits the script and the stage, 1999
If there's one thing Kanye wants more than applause, it's boos. And it's not just for movies.
In 1999, Sophie Marceau took to the stage to present the Palme d'Or to the Dardenne brothers, winners of the film "Rosetta." But her impromptu speech lasted about two minutes, with no clear direction and very few complete sentences.
The audience began to boo him, until Kristin Scott Thomas intervened out of pity and ended the awkward moment.
15. Daylight robbery, 2013
Logically, Chania is an attractive target for thieves, because every year it is filled with wealthy people who are photographed covered in jewelry.
In 2013, a safe containing Chopard jewellery worth over £660 was stolen from a hotel room during the festival. The following week, a necklace worth £1.4 million was stolen from the Cap d'Antibes resort.
Two months later, after the festival ended, a thief broke into the Carlton International Hotel and stole £89 million worth of jewelry and watches, carrying out the largest robbery in French history.
14. Departures from the hall during “Irréversible”, 2002
Gaspar Noé's reputation as a great provocateur began with the screening of "Irréversible" at Cannes. The film, a revenge thriller, contains a lengthy rape scene.
According to reports, about 250 people left the theater, with 20 of them requiring medical attention. In footage of the exits, some viewers called the film "scandalous" and "pathetic," and Noé "mentally ill."
The film did not win the Palme d'Or that year, but this was not necessarily related to the audience's reaction: the award went to Roman Polanski.
13. Kelly Rowland is rushed off the red carpet, 2024
As prestigious as the Cannes Film Festival is, it doesn't always live up to its name. Unlike other festivals, where stars are given time to enjoy the moment on the red carpet, Cannes is known for its hustle and bustle.
In 2024, Kelly Rowland reacted angrily to a female employee who was pushing her to move faster. According to lip readers, Rowland told her, "Don't talk to me like that, you're not my mother!"
12. A director spits on a journalist, 2023
Maïwenn's film "Jeanne du Barry" opened the festival in 2023, but became more talked about for the fact that it marked Johnny Depp's big comeback after his legal battles.
However, the biggest scandal came shortly after the film was announced as the festival's opener. Maïwenn saw Edwy Plenel, the editor of the investigative website Mediapart, in a restaurant. According to reports, she grabbed him by the hair, pulled his head back and spat in his face.
Later, the director was fined 400 euros and ordered to pay Mediapart 1,500 euros in moral damages.
11. Maurice Pialat is booed as he wins, 1987
Director Maurice Pialat won the Palme d'Or for the film "Under the Sun of Satan," a story about a priest going through a deep crisis of faith.
The victory was described by reports as one of the most controversial in the history of cinema. When his name was announced, the audience booed him widely. Pialat responded with the words: "If you don't love me, I don't love you either."
10. A four-month-old baby is denied entry, 2019
Of all the ways Cannes has been criticized for its treatment of women, this case remains one of the most bizarre. In 2019, British director Greta Bellamacina attempted to enter the festival with her four-month-old son while her film was being screened there.
She was denied entry. After a long and stressful debate, the festival proposed a compromise: the baby was to be treated as a delegate and provided with a £260 pass, which required 48 hours for approval.
A Cannes spokesman later said the decision had been made in error.
9. Spike Lee tells Wim Wenders he's "waiting for him", 1989
“Do the Right Thing,” Spike Lee’s third film, was critically acclaimed and commercially successful. The film received Oscar and Golden Globe nominations, and won a special award at the Independent Spirit Awards.
But Lee was furious when the film didn't win the Palme d'Or. The award went to Steven Soderbergh's Sex, Lies and Videotape.
Lee took the loss personally and said of the jury president: "Wim Wenders should watch out, because I'm waiting for him. Somewhere deep in my closet I have a Louisville Slugger baseball bat with Wenders' name on it."
In a 2013 interview, he called that statement "stupid" and "very immature."
8. Two exposed breasts and several broken legs, 1954
Simone Silva, a young actress seeking fame, attracted attention when Cania awarded her the honorary title of "Miss Festival" in 1954.
Part of her duties included a beach photoshoot with Robert Mitchum. Midway through the shoot, Silva removed her top and posed with her hands covering her breasts.
This caused a huge commotion among photographers trying to get the best shot. Two of them ended up with broken limbs. The festival was shocked and asked Silva to leave. She died of a stroke three years later, at the age of 29.
7. Sean Penn's solemn African drama is mocked in the hall, 2016
Whispers are one thing, but laughter during a film screening can be even more painful for a director.
Such was the case with Sean Penn's "The Last Face," a critically acclaimed love story about two white doctors, played by Javier Bardem and Charlize Theron, working in West Africa.
The film was met with mockery almost from the start, followed by devastating reviews and a press conference where the crew seemed shaken. The official premiere was so grim that Kania banned journalists from publishing reviews until after the red carpet.
6. Dead pigeons promoting “24 Hour Party People”, 2001
Before he became famous, Shaun Ryder of the Happy Mondays poisoned a flock of pigeons in Manchester. This episode was included in Michael Winterbottom's biopic of Tony Wilson.
Someone on the film crew thought it would be fun to recreate this episode at Cannes by ordering fake dead pigeons. But they looked much more realistic than expected and caused outrage when they were thrown into a restaurant.
According to Variety, a pigeon landed on the table of a prominent French television executive. Security guards threatened the actors with pepper spray, while Joel and Ethan Coen, who were also at the restaurant, reportedly had a great time.
5. "The Brown Bunny", 2003
"The Brown Bunny" became infamous for the scene where director, screenwriter, cinematographer, editor, producer, and lead actor Vincent Gallo receives real oral sex from Chloë Sevigny.
The film's reputation began at its turbulent screening at Cannes, where the audience sarcastically applauded Gallo's acting and booed whenever his name appeared in the credits.
After the screening, Roger Ebert called it the worst film in the festival's history. Gallo himself apologized for the film, saying it was "a disaster of a film and a waste of time."
4. Protest of 82 women, 2018
The festival's problem with female representation reached a peak in 2018, a year after the #MeToo movement. Many prominent participants spoke out about the underrepresentation of female directors.
The highlight came when 82 women, including Cate Blanchett, Kristen Stewart and Salma Hayek, stood on the red carpet in solidarity.
Why 82? Because, as Blanchett pointed out, from 1946 to 2018, 1,688 male directors had walked the red carpet with films in competition, while only 82 female directors had had the same opportunity.
At the time, the Palme d'Or had been won by 71 male directors and only two female directors. Justine Triet became the third in 2023 with "Anatomy of a Fall."
3. Jury President Vomits Over a Movie, 1973
Cannes can be a tough place for filmmakers, but few directors have received as wild a reception as Marco Ferreri.
His 1973 film, “La Grande Bouffe,” about a group of friends who try to eat themselves to death, was intentionally provocative and disgusting, and the screening was met with boos, boos, and, according to legend, vomiting by jury president Ingrid Bergman.
According to New York Magazine, a critic punched Ferreri in the face as soon as the film ended, leading to a fight between them on the floor.
2. The festival closes five days before the end, 1968
Cannes was not left out of the wave of social unrest that swept France in May 1968. Major figures such as François Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, Louis Malle and Claude Lelouch argued that a luxurious film festival would seem disconnected from reality, while the country was facing student protests and police violence.
Jury members resigned, directors withdrew films, and Carlos Saura and Geraldine Chaplin took to the cinema curtains to stop the screening of the film "Peppermint Frappé."
In the end, the festival was officially canceled five days before its scheduled end and no awards were given.
1. Lars von Trier and "solidarity" with Hitler, 2011
What else could be in first place? During the press conference for the film "Melancholia," Lars von Trier made a series of provocative statements.
The most talked about was the sentence "I understand Hitler", but he also said that, after thinking he was Jewish, he had discovered that he was actually a Nazi, which according to him had given him "some satisfaction".
It was not only the biggest scandal in Cannes history, but also one of the strangest acts of public self-destruction. Even today, watching the footage, it's hard not to feel sorry for Kirsten Dunst, sitting next to him and clearly wishing she was anywhere else but there. /GazetaExpress/
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