Roll the Film--and the High-Powered Fashions

CANNES, France--It was going to be a tough call. In a post-Sept. 11 world, how was this year’s Cannes Film Festival--with a reduced Hollywood studio presence and more serious art-house fare--going to top last year’s colorful fanfare and fantasy of “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring” and “Moulin Rouge,” spiced by the frisson of Nicole Kidman’s divorce?

Woody Allen’s opening film, “Hollywood Ending,” certainly wasn’t going to do the job--nor nor was the director. Despite his social coming-out at the Oscars, described by the affable New Yorker (here the antithesis of his acerbic screen persona), “as a gesture of reciprocity, not a religious conversion,” it’s evident the adjustment was only partial. Just before his Palais red-carpet ascent, Allen confessed a “desperate attempt to suppress panic.”

Dressed in a rented tux, accompanied by his wife, Soon-Yi Previn, and his trio of starlets, Allen survived the ordeal amid cries of adulation from French fans outside. A more daunting challenge awaited: the post-screening, opening-night party for 650 VIP guests, including French cultural minister Jacques Aillagon.

The festival, despite a toned-down atmosphere, had the usual round of parties and parade of fashion.

On the first day, Cannes favorite and jury member Sharon Stone, returning to film after a two-year sabbatical (during which she had a baby and recovered from illness) declared her comeback was as a “film-student, delighted to be part of a team exploring film in a profound way, content to play a supporting role.”

She didn’t mention her serious commitment to fashion. In the absence of other major A-list contenders, relishing the captive audience and her return to the spotlight, Stone--possibly as a reaction to being cooped up with so many directors--has treated the Palais red carpet as her private catwalk.

By night in Versace and Valentino, by day or on fun, offbeat evenings in Fendi (which opened its first Riviera store on the Croissette during the festival), Stone has run the gamut of fabrics, colors and styles from high glamour to offbeat hip.

In austere black or sensual leopard prints for the screenings on the first two nights, she was barefoot (quite a turn for the stuffy ritual here), in white trousers and matching furs for the early evening world premiere of Rosanna Arquette’s documentary, “Searching for Debra Winger.”

She almost managed to upstage the week’s most anticipated event, the 20-minute preview of “Gangs of New York,” when the late arrival of director Martin Scorsese, Miramax honcho Harvey Weinstein and stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz (in a knockout black lace) provided an opportunity for a gyrating parade in clinging pale blue Herve Leger.

In a year when somber political films have dominated the competition, Stone and fellow celebrities have set the general trend of mostly sleek, simple elegance.

Juliette Binoche popped in briefly to promote her new romantic comedy “Jet Lag,” voraciously eating chocolates (a legacy of her previous film “Chocolat”?) and pastries, a rare sight in the body-obsessed star climate. Dressed in her favorite simple black Alessandro Dell’Acqua dress by day, resplendent in Dior for the “Gangs of New York” evening preview, she switched to champagne-colored beaded Ungaro for one of the other premieres.

Amid this year’s understated elegance, by far the most spectacular party was MTV/MGM/UA 40th birthday celebration for James Bond, set in the futuristic bubble villa of octogenarian Pierre Cardin. It was attended by current 007 Pierce Brosnan, and hip crowd of 1,200 revelers.

Bond’s Astin Martin Vanquish, Jaguar XKR and Range Rover were flown here especially for the party from the upcoming 20th Bond film “Die Another Day,” currently in production at London’s Pinewood Studios. The cars were displayed under the vigilant eye of a security team.

Forty TV screens, built into the sloping bubble landscape, played key scenes from the superspy films, launched by Sean Connery in 1962.

No special effects were spared for the extravaganza.

Special shuttles transported guests half an hour away to Cardin’s villa, named Palais Bulles in Theole-Sur-Mer. Green lasers and gusts of artificial snow greeted the guests on arrival.

In the gastronomic paradise that is the Riviera, organizers wanted to provide a fresh touch flying in teams of British and Australian chefs from London to provide a spectacular menu of oyster bloody mary shots, an array of fresh seafood and barbecued delicacies, canapes and a 3 a.m. breakfast of croissants, sausages and an assortment of gateaux. After breakfast, guests had the opportunity to gamble at roulette, blackjack and other games.

On the same night, half an hour on the other side of Cannes, at the stylist Hotel Du Cap-Eden Rock, the Vanity Fair folk partied to a more moderate tempo. Farrah Fawcett, Rosanna Arquette, Sting and wife Trudie Styler and Mick Jagger joined other A-list revelers.

The Hollywood power elite turned out a couple of nights later to support legendary producer Robert Evans, the subject of the bio-documentary, “The Kid Stays in the Picture,” who basked in the limelight of his party event at Martinez Beach restaurant. The “kid” nearly didn’t make it (he reportedly didn’t feel well) but at the last minute hopped on Jack Nicholson’s private jet to make it in time for the screening and celebration.

Surprisingly one of the most elegant cocktail parties was the launch of a new player on the film festival’s circuit, the Spirit of Fire, which will be held in Siberia next January.

Held at atop the magnificently located Sofitel hotel with 360-degree views of the Old Harbor and coastline, the party attracted a smartly dressed crowd, reiterating the message imbued in many of this year’s films. Despite geographic and cultural differences, it’s a small world after all.