At the height of its fame in the 1950s and ’60s, the Cannes Film Festival seemed to capture the essence of carefree, sexy France for the outside world: a bikini-clad Brigitte Bardot posing on the sand; photographers chasing screaming starlets down the Croisette; Hollywood moguls hosting riotous parties on their huge yachts in the bay.
Everyone was in on the fun, or so it seemed from the jaunty newsreel clips and press photos of stars letting their hair down on the Riviera.
But as Cannes launched its 77th annual edition on Tuesday, all that seemed a long-distant memory. French cinema is finally having its #MeToo reckoning, its dark underbelly clear to all, and the world’s most famous film festival has become a battleground.
