Actresses Adorn the Cannes Competition Posters
Thursday, May 12, 2016 at 2:31PM Daniel Crooke, here, nursing a serious case of intercontinental jealousy. Yesterday marked the kick-off of the 69th Cannes Film Festival with a typically out of competition Woody Allen picture (Café Society, met with polite nods and a lingering line of extra-textual inquiry) and today George Miller and his jury of wisecrackers and Kikis hunker down for eleven days of cinematic deliberation. To those of us salivating across borders for news of the Farhadi, Arnold, Dolan, or Almodóvar, let’s celebrate with one of Cannes’ greatest gifts: a proud tradition of actress-heavy posters. [More...]
While Cannes’ main competition posters began as bird-bathed seaside portraits, matter-of-factly stated cinematic imagery, and the occasional slice of psychedelia, the actress-y mainstays we’ve grown accustomed to have only developed as a trend in the last two decades. And we’re better off for it. Cannes’ actress posters are notable for rarely objectifying female beauty by playing into a nymphet fetish. Instead they position actresses as powerhouse empaths who, in one beguiling look or pose, convey the breadth of expression and elegance that befits this illustrious festival where so many integral careers in international cinema developed. At Cannes, it’s the men who get the short shrift on this visual altar – the tragically hip Fellini muse Marcello Mastroianni currently holds the trophy as sole breadwinner for men flying solo.
This year’s Contempt poster is striking and transporting but you could say the same thing about any of the stories etched by the actresses who've made the list... Marlene Dietrich, smoked in intrigue. Maggie Cheung, checking over her silhouetted shoulder for the threat of forbidden passion. Ingrid Bergman, beaming wise with possibility. Marilyn Monroe (twice), Juliette Binoche, and Faye Dunaway have also had their own one sheets, with Joanne Woodward, Penelope Cruz and Juliette Binoche (again), and Ingrid Bergman (again) featuring in group shots. While it's this year's Critics Week poster, this beauty of Jessica Chastain (pictured left) has been making the rounds, as well.
Four suggestions for future choices...
1) Carmen Maura: Gazpacho queen of Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (pictured), ¡Ay, Carmela!, and Volver (Cannes Best Actress winner)
With hundreds of Cannes posters to come, we have an endless supply of wonderful actresses to select from in suggesting future cover women. While the desire to post a photo of Parker Posey in Party Girl is overwhelming - especially after the disappointing silence on her role in Café Society - it remains baffling that so few women of color have made it into this club.
After a steady whittling down of the list, here are three choices to fill that need:
2) Angela Bassett: Rolling on and off the river with the proud goddess off What's Love Got To Do With It (Best Actress Oscar nominee, pictured), Malcolm X, and last year's Chi-Raq (should-be Oscar nominee)
3) Gong Li: The legendary star of Farewell My Concubine (NYFCC Best Supporting Actress champ in this Palme d'Or winner, pictured), Ju Dou, Raise The Red Lantern, and Memoirs of a Geisha (NBR Best Supporting Actress winner)
4) Erica Rivas: Smash your mirrors with the raging bride of Wild Tales (AMPAS Argentina Best Actress winner...fun fact, she also won Best Supporting Actress that year for Aire Libre), Tetro, and It's Your Fault (AMPAS Argentina Best Actress winner).
Who are some of your favorite actresses you feel most deserve to have their faces plastered across the Croisette?
Reader Comments (7)
Ooooh, I LOVE this. Huppert must be next, right?
And that Bassett screenshot gives me everything I need to survive. One of my all-time favorite performances
Fernanda Montenegro!
Jennifer Jones, in memoriam, and Julie Christie
Dayum, Daniel, this is some truly lovely, magical writing!
The Faye Dunaway and Paul & Joanne are my favorite ones. Damn these gloriouly photogenic golden stars.
On other note, We Need To Talk About Faye more.
And yes, a Julie Christie poster would be divine. And Sophia Loren?!
it remains baffling that so few women of color have made it into this club.
Hollywood does an excellent job of keeping nonwhite women in film one lead performance wonders. Whenever we're comparing white actresses to each other they usually have a handful or more lead performance opportunities on their resume. With nonwhite actresses from the states at best their multiple opportunities to lead anything are in television.
Si, si, si, si, si, si, si....
They refuse to give her best actress so they should at least put her on the poster. She keeps going every year so she's earned it. Cotillard.