[ad_1]
CANNES, France – Wes Anderson has long awaited the release of “The French Dispatch” at the Cannes Film Festival.
A star-studded comedy anthology on the latest issue of a literary magazine, “The French Dispatch” was scheduled to debut here last year until the pandemic prevented the festival from being held. Instead of releasing his film in the meantime, Anderson kept it for another year, and at the glitzy Cannes premiere on Monday night, he finally got his wish.
The film festival too. Cannes operates primarily on author worship and movie stars, and “The French Dispatch” has offered generous portions of both. The cast members including Timothée Chalamet, Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton, Benicio Del Toro, and Owen Wilson have all proven to support Anderson’s film, contributing to what is almost certainly the biggest movie premiere to ever have. since the start of the pandemic.
Cannes responded in kind, and the audience at the Grand Théâtre Lumière gave “The French Dispatch” a standing ovation nine minutes after the closing credits. These epic clapping orgies are one of the festival’s most well-known quirks, but for foreigners the standing ovations must be baffling: Do the audience really stand up and cheer that long? Wouldn’t that get old quickly?
Let me explain how a Cannes standing ovation works, using last night’s standing O for “The French Dispatch” as a minute-by-minute model. It’s a standing ovation that Anderson has been expecting for over a year, even though it seemed like he wanted it to end as soon as he started.
1 second in: The credits end, the lights come on, and the enthusiastic audience rises. A cameraman rushes to the middle of the theater, where Anderson and his cast are seated. As he films them, the image is simultaneously broadcast on the large screen of the Light, which further elicits the applause of the crowd.
6 seconds in: Although Anderson has risen from his seat, the rest of his cast remain conspicuously seated. Nervous, he tries to persuade them to stand by his side, but the actors hold on: they want Anderson to have his own moment where he can be singularly applauded for his work.
36 seconds in: Half a minute of adulation is about all Anderson can take, visibly uncomfortable. To his right, Chalamet and actress Lyna Khoudri, who play the French revolutionaries in the film, and Anderson begs them to stand up. They start to do it, but when Chalamet looks around and sees that no other actor has stood up, he stays in his place.
45 seconds in: Murray stands up and greets the jubilant audience. You can see the rest of the cast doing mental math, “Well if Bill Murray has to get up then I guess it’s time to get up. They all get up.
1 minute and 10 seconds in: Murray pulls out a fan and starts blowing cool air on his director. Hey, if the standing ovation is going to last several minutes, you might as well sprinkle some funny bits and pieces to pass the time.
1 minute and 30 seconds in: the actor Mathieu Amalric takes out his iPhone and starts recording a video of the casting. Adjustment, since everyone in the Light also has an iPhone trained on them.
1 minute and 50 seconds in: Swinton descends the line of his co-stars, giving del Toro and Adrien Brody double kisses on the cheek. Let me attempt to describe Swinton’s outfit, which consists of a satin pink blouse, glittery green sleeves and an orange skirt: it looks like the most glamorous fruit plate you’ve ever seen.
2 minutes in: How can a standing ovation in Cannes last more than two minutes? Here’s the trick: the Lumière cameraman, who previously recorded a wide shot of the cast, now switches to sustained close-ups of each actor. This allows the audience to give each of the performers their own round of applause, and this is also why Cannes films with a large ensemble tend to have longer standing ovations.
2 minutes and 20 seconds in: As the camera shifts from a close-up shot of Amalric to Khoudri, Brody runs from his seat at the very end of the cast and walks over to where the action is. He hugs Amalric, who is near the front row, and the camera pulls back to cover him.
2 minutes and 37 seconds in: Now, Chalamet is doing his close-up. “Thank you,” said Chalamet as the audience applauded wildly. He then points to Anderson, encouraging the cameraman to film him instead.
2 minutes and 55 seconds in: Anderson stands with Wilson and seems utterly indifferent to putting up with another half a minute of prolonged public attention. The camera instead locates Swinton, a Cannes veteran who is in three films here this year. Despite being a seasoned pro at accepting a standing ovation, Swinton shakes her head and points to her manager. Eventually, she takes the initiative and pushes the camera towards Anderson herself.
3 minutes and 23 seconds in: The cameraman lingers on a close-up of Anderson, leading the tired crowd into another round of shouting and cheering. But it’s clear the director doesn’t know what to do with himself when he’s the frame’s only lens. He is saved by Murray, who comes in for another hug.
3 minutes and 53 seconds in: Brody leans in to kiss Anderson on the cheek and ruffles her hair. We’re not even halfway on this thing.
4 minutes and 30 seconds in: Swinton takes the “Tilda Swinton” sign from her seat and sticks it to the back of Chalamet’s silver jacket. We have reached the improvisation-comedy part of the night.
5 minutes and 25 seconds in: After locating del Toro at the end of the cast list, the cameraman has now fulfilled his obligation to let each of the performers have their own solo applause session. So what will make the ovation last? Throw away the evil. The camera returns to Chalamet, who hides his face with the sign “Tilda Swinton”. Swinton snatches it from her hands and sticks it to her back again, in its place.
5 minutes and 50 seconds in: Now hugging Brody, Chalamet turns to the camera and makes the “LA fingers” hand gesture. Brody sends a very serious kiss to the camera.
6 minutes and 5 seconds in: Yes, we’re entering minute 6. Anderson pulls out a pink handkerchief and wipes his forehead. He seems to have tears in his eyes.
6 minutes and 35 seconds in: Chalamet turns to Anderson and bows in an “I am not worthy” salute. The applause begins to weaken a bit. It’s time to bring out the big guns.
7 minutes and 7 seconds in: Anderson receives a microphone. He grimaces and tries to deflect it, but the Cannes officials give him a squeeze anyway.
7 minutes and 15 seconds in: Anderson, who lives in Paris, begins to address the public in French. He calls the first “an honor for me”, but after seven seconds, he turns to Chalamet and cracks in English: “I don’t know what else to say. The audience laughs and Anderson adds, “Hope we come back soon with another one.” Thank you so much.”
7 minutes and 30 seconds in: Anderson’s short speech was enough to revive the crowd, and the applause returns to its original level.
7 minutes and 50 seconds in: Several cries in the French accent of “Bravo! are heard as Anderson tucks his long hair behind his ears and scans the audience.
8 minutes and 24 seconds in: Murray walks up to Anderson and suggests he’s ready to go. Anderson couldn’t agree more, running so fast down the aisle that he bumps into the cameraman, who is still filming him.
8 minutes and 40 seconds in: It looks like the cameraman blocked Anderson’s path. He won’t get out of it that easily! Instead, Anderson is forced to stand in the aisle and absorb even more cheering applause and cheering whistles from the crowd. The expression on his face is somewhere between a goofy grin and pure, stunned glee, which will give you nearly nine minutes of a standing ovation.
9 minutes in: The cameraman gives in and allows Anderson to move forward. As the director and his actors leave the theater, the ovation finally subsides. French people rush outside to smoke, Americans rush outside to tweet, and in a few different languages I hear a plaintive question: “Is there an after-party?”
[ad_2]
Source link