Martin Scorsese in Cannes, a look back at half a century of turbulent idyll

The first time he landed in Cannes, his name didn't mean anything to anyone. That was in 1974. Martin Scorsese was 32 years old, a film (Bertha Boxcar) and a participation in the documentary Woodstock to his credit. He came to the Croisette to present his first real feature film, Mean Streets. This dive into New York thugs heralds his future filmography. Charlie and Johnny Boy try to break into the middle in Little Italy. Alongside Harvey Keitel, Robert de Niro is an unstable young striker, riddled with debt and too eager to arrive. This is the beginning of a long collaboration between the director and the one who will become his favorite actor.

Bob made the trip to Cannes. The two men sleep at the Negresco in Nice. Palace life. Too happy to rub shoulders with the pundits of European cinema, the young Scorsese meets Fellini and talks with Wim Wenders – also back this year. The film is presented in the Directors' Fortnight, a selection born five years earlier, supposed to be less academic and intended to highlight a more daring cinema. Even if journalists do not fight to interview John Cassavetes' protégé, Mean Streets, shot on a modest budget, is a sensation.

The consecration Taxi Driver

The following year, Scorsese entered the competition with Alice was no longer here. This portrait of a woman who left on the roads of America after the death of an abusive husband seduces critics, but leaves empty-handed. The consecration will come in 1976. The director presents in official competition Taxi Driver, the pathetic odyssey of a taxi driver in the notorious streets of New York. Martin Scorsese put a lot of himself into the screen setting of this script by Paul Schrader. Robert de Niro zebra the film with his bursts of madness.

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Upon his arrival in Cannes, Scorsese discovered in the press that the president of the jury, Tennessee Williams, had found the film too brutal. Despite the very good reception that followed the screening, the young director, depressed, decided to return to Los Angeles. Three days later, at 6:30 a.m., he was woken up by his agent who told him that he had just won the Palme d'Or. This is not a miracle. Sergio Leone and Costa-Gavras, both on the jury, pushed for his consecration. Fans of Taxi Driver, the two directors had tried at a dinner to dissuade Scorsese from leaving the Croisette.

Jodie Foster and Robert de Niro in 1976, in Cannes. -AFP

With Taxi Driver, debutante Jodie Foster makes her screen debut as a prostitute and her first steps on the Croisette. In 2016, she told Le Figaro about her experience: "The studio didn't want to pay for my ticket. He said that Robert de Niro, Harvey Keitel and Martin Scorsese would make the trip and that was enough. My mother told them that I was the only one who spoke French. She took me a ticket and we landed in Cannes. Scorsese and the others stayed at Cap d'Antibes. There was such a debate about the violence of the film that they all remained hidden there. As a result, I was the only one on the Croisette giving press conferences and talking to journalists.

Jodie Foster added that she found Robert de Niro shy as a big bad Bob. With this surprise Palme, Scorsese, the former lonely kid from Queens feels knighted. And euphoric. Too much, he confided to the Nouvel Observateur in 2017. "I think it made me realize that the euphoria of success can be pernicious, that nothing can replace discipline and focus.

The gratitude of Roberto Benigni

In 1982, the festival selected La Valse des pantins, a fierce satire of the world of show business and television. Jerry Lewis plays De Niro. The film, which follows Raging Bull, will be a resounding commercial failure for Scorsese. After Hours, in 1985, put him back in the spotlight on the Croisette. A novelist, played by Griffin Dunne, experiences a nightmarish night in the wake of a young woman who admires him. The film won the Best Director Award, awarded by a jury chaired by Sidney Pollack and where Charles Aznavour sits.

Martin Scorsese, in 1982, presents La Valse des pantins. RALPH GATTIRALPH GATTI / AFP

After a long absence, in 1997, Martin Scorsese returned to Cannes to smile on a photo, that of the fifty years of the festival. Jacques Chirac, the one and only time that a president will visit the Croisette, made the trip. The following year, a mission he had declined in the past, Scorsese accepted the presidency of the jury. Sigourney Weaver, Alain Corneau and Chiara Mastroianni sit alongside him. Eternity and a Day by Theo Angelopoulos receives the Palme d'Or.

Life is beautiful by Roberto Benigni wins the Grand Prix. The Italian actor, true to his fantasies, throws himself at the feet of the jury during the ceremony to express his gratitude. Le Figaro interviewed Scorsese that year: "I think Cannes is the most important festival in the world, because it brings everyone together, all ideas are expressed, in the aesthetic field, in new ways of seeing the world. It's the lifeblood of cinema," he says.

The young Leonardo DiCaprio, Cameron Diaz and Martin Scorsese presented Gans of New York in 2002. ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULATANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT / AFP

This uncle from America is now subscribed to the Croisette. In 2001, he presented a documentary on Italian cinema, the following year, Gangs of New York. During the same edition, he chaired the jury of short films. In 2007, he gave a master-class, in front of Quentin Tarantino and Claude Lanzmann. In 2018, he received the Carrosse d'or, awarded by the French Society of Film Directors. "My introduction to international cinema happened right here. It was worth the trip, just to thank you," Marty smiles. At 81, Scorsese is back. After Harrison Ford, the director with cult films - The Freedmen, Casino, the Wolf of Wall Street - proves that cinema has no age.