Climbing the steps of the Palais des Festivals in Cannes this week, was Catherine Deneuve thinking, not without nostalgia, of that day in May 1962 when she discovered the Croisette for the first time? At that time, she probably did not imagine that in 2023, fate would allow her to remain again and again, the star of French cinema, and to see Chiara, her daughter, preside over the jury.
A little over six decades ago, she posed in front of photographers on the arm of Roger Vadim, who had just directed her in Vice and Virtue. Her career was limited to a few appearances in half a dozen films, including Les Parisiennes, but love story obliges, she was more present in the pages of newspapers that were not yet called people than in the columns reserved for critics.
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She then displayed a mixture of shyness and modesty, which we perceive in the interview then granted to François Chalais in the show Reflets de Cannes and that Madelen invites you to discover or rediscover. At that time, there was no press conference after each screening, and this one-on-one meeting on the only television channel, was considered a must. Present only in La dolce vita, the paparazzi did not hide to immortalize on film actresses and actors who were not surrounded by a team of bodyguards when they wanted to cross a street to enjoy the beach.
The relationship to celebrity is precisely the theme of this sequence of archives shot between 1960 and 1963, which also includes Anna Magnani, Romy Schneider and Brigitte Bardot. "My life is like a prison," says BB in these confidences dating back to 1960. She was then married to Jacques Charrier, whom she met while giving him the replica in Babette s'en va t'en guerre. She had given birth, a few months earlier, to Nicolas, her only son. She has just agreed to be the headliner of The Truth, by Clouzot, where she will live a new love story with Sami Frey.
For her part, Romy Schneider, lives with Alain Delon, an idyll that has entered the legend. He was at her side in May 1962 when she went to Cannes to attend the screening, out of competition, of Boccaccio 70. The photographers strafe them, of course, even if the "glamour" of this edition of the festival is especially marked by the presence of a nascent couple, Warren Beatty and Nathalie Wood. Before meeting Sophia Loren on the steps of the old Palais, Romy Schneider makes a detour to François Chalais' studio where, in French that has become almost perfect, she evokes the evolution of her career.
Anna Magnani, "the tigress"
She confides her pain of living and her boredom, when she decided to take the risk of turning her back on the character of Sissi, at the origin of her glory. Her family, and in particular Alain Delon, supported her, but that did not prevent her from experiencing sleepless nights with a fear in her stomach, that of being rejected by producers and directors. By being the first to trust him, Luchino Visconti paved the way for an international career.
Anna Magnani had already crossed this milestone a long time ago, when in 1963, she found herself facing François Chalais who could not extract a smile from her. He tells her that behind the scenes, she is nicknamed "the tigress". Aware that directors sometimes tremble in front of her demands, she is not offended, quite the contrary. The one also called "The Magnani" does not consider herself a sacred monster, but prefers to be seen as an actress who leads her career as she sees fit. So she did not cross the Atlantic when, in March 1956, she became the first Italian to win an Oscar for her portrayal of Serafina Delle Rose in The Tattooed Rose.
Jerry Lewis collected the trophy before sending it to him. When asked by a reporter about the feeling she had felt when she learned of this form of consecration, she simply replied: "Magnani is happy." It could hardly be more sober.