A Claude François at the height of his glory who, accompanied by his Clodettes, sings and dances in front of a swimming pool with water as blue as the spring sky, a Richard Clayderman who plays, for the first time on television, his ballad for Adeline… An inventory à la Drucker who presents her program
Les rendez-vous du dimanche
, live from the 1977 Cannes Film Festival. There is not the slightest artifice of light in the decor and the stars parade in front of the cameras, smiling to the lips, without being escorted by a crowd of agents and communicators.
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These images, proposed by Madelen, recall another time: that of a good-natured event, where the financial stakes did not prevent the evenings of parties in the old Palace, now destroyed.
Every evening, onlookers flocked to see, for a moment, Sophia Loren, David Carradine or Peter Ustinov, smiling in front of the photographers.
The producers who accompanied them did not look exclusively at the entry figures.
They were also interested in what was happening on the screen.
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However, this art of living well on the Croisette has never prevented tensions behind the scenes. In 1977, the Palme d'Or awarded to
Padre Padrone
, directed by Paolo and Vittorio Taviani, sparked a controversy which the press was sure to pick up on. The jury, chaired by Roberto Rossellini, which includes Marthe Keller and Benoite Groult, among others, is accused of bias.
A special day
by Ettore Scola and
Trois femmes
, by Robert Altman, who received a standing ovation at the end of their respective screenings, do not appear on the prize list! Maurice Bessy, the general delegate, usually silent, declares loud and clear, “
a jury like this one, I've never seen one!
".
For his part, Robert Favre Le Bret signs an article in which he assures us that from now on, he will be wary of “
enlightened amateurs
”. The French selection, whose quality had been highlighted, is not better off.
Marguerite Duras'
truck
and
Yves Boisset's
Un taxi mauve
did not receive the slightest voice.
This 1977 edition is also marked by the presence of Princess Grace. Descended, for one evening, from her Principality of Monaco, she becomes Grace Kelly again, the time to present a documentary for which she provided the commentary: the history of the Ballets Russes in Monte-Carlo, at the beginning of the 20th century, and of the Kirov dance school. His arrival, which wanted to be discreet, is at the origin of a stampede which will give some cold sweats to his bodyguards.
Finally, one morning, a tiny handful of special envoys went to the Miramar hotel to attend the press conference given by an Austrian bodybuilder, who had come to present a film on the bloat.
In the days that preceded, his press officers tried, in vain, to convince journalists to take the time to discover this stranger, full of humor, and about whom we would undoubtedly be talking a lot in the years to come.
In vain.
Nobody believed that this "
Mr. Muscle
" with the unpronounceable name would become a star.
Many subsequently regretted having missed out on the debut of Arnold Schwarzenegger.
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