Top Cannes movies get box office boost (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – Did winning the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival do the trick for "The Tree of Life," a new drama starring Brad Pitt and Sean Penn?

The film grossed an estimated $352,000 during its opening weekend in a total of four theaters in New York and Los Angeles. Its per-screen average of about $88,000 is a record for a film released by Fox Searchlight, surpassing the $80,000 average for "Black Swan" last year.

The critically acclaimed film's performance was all the more impressive given its lengthy running time of 138 minutes, said Sheila DeLoache, the studio's senior VP for distribution. And Fox Searchlight relied almost entirely on publicity to generate interest in the drama, versus an expensive media campaign.

"Winning the Palme d'Or really pushed it forward," DeLoache said.

The last American film to walk away with the festival's top honor was Michael Moore's documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11" seven years ago.

"Tree of Life" isn't the only film feeling the Cannes glow. Woody Allen's "Midnight in Paris," the festival's opening-night film, remained strong business in its second weekend.

The Sony Pictures Classics release jumped six places to No. 7 with $1.9 million from 58 theaters; its 10-day total rose to a stellar $2.8 million. Last weekend, "Midnight" scored one of the best location averages of all time -- $99,834 -- when opening in six theaters.

"Tree of Life" had a long and twisted journey to the big screen. The film's producer, Bill Pohlad, originally intended to open the movie in late 2009, but notoriously perfectionistic director Terrence Malick wasn't done in time. Nor was he ready for Cannes last year.

DeLoache said evening shows were sold out in all four theaters. The studio is planning a slow rollout. This coming Friday, the film adds eight markets, playing in a total of 18 theaters. Come July 1, the film will be in a modest national release of 200 to 300 theaters.

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'Tree of Life' scoops Cannes top prize (AFP)

CANNES, France (AFP) – Reclusive US director Terrence Malick clinched the Palme d'Or at the Cannes film festival for "The Tree of Life", a fantastical family drama uniting Brad Pitt and Sean Penn on screen.

Malick did not turn up at the gala awards ceremony Sunday, after which jury president Robert De Niro said the epic had "the size, the importance, the intention, whatever you want to call it, that seemed to fit the prize".

Kirsten Dunst won acting honours for her turn as a depressed bride facing the apocalypse in "Melancholia" by Denmark's Lars von Trier, who was expelled from the festival for making an awkward joke about his sympathies for Hitler.

"Well, what a week it's been," she quipped, referring to the scandal which marred what critics otherwise hailed as a vintage year at the world's top cinema showcase. She skipped a post-ceremony press conference.

Fellow Dane Nicolas Winding Refn claimed best director for his high-octane thriller "Drive" starring Canada's Ryan Gosling as a stunt driver who moonlights as a wheelman for armed robbers in what was probably the most commercially viable of the 20 Cannes contenders.

France's Jean Dujardin, who charmed critics with his role as a fading 1920s film star in Michel Hazanavicius's silent black-and-white feature "The Artist", took the best actor laurel.

Notoriously exacting, the 67-year-old Malick has only made five films in 38 years, including "Days of Heaven" for which he won the Cannes best director prize.

One of the most hotly anticipated tickets in town, "The Tree of Life" divided critics, drawing cheers and equally insistent boos when it was unveiled to Cannes critics.

It was the first US film to win since 2004, when Michael Moore took home the gold for the political documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11".

The sweeping picture stars Pitt in 1950s Texas as a domineering father of three boys one of whom grows up to be a disaffected adult (Penn) struggling with the legacy of his troubled upbringing and a sudden tragedy in the family.

Drawing on themes of nature and grace, the film features lyrical scenes of the family at home interwoven with computer-generated images of the origins of life, dinosaurs, a meteor striking planet Earth -- putting the problems of a few individuals in America into cosmic perspective.

The New York Times said it marked "an affirmation of Mr Malick's belief in the power of cinematic images to express the sublime" while film industry bible Variety called it "in many ways his simplest yet most challenging work".

The runner-up Grand Prix was shared by Belgium's Dardenne brothers for "The Kid With a Bike" about an abandoned boy and the woman bent on saving him, and "Once Upon a Time in Anatolia", a police drama by Turkey's Nuri Bilge Ceylan.

The competition featured a record four women film-makers but only French actress-director Maiwenn picked up a gong, the third-place Jury Prize for "Poliss" about a closely knit Child Protection Unit of the Paris police.

Israeli director Joseph Cedar won the best screenplay prize for "Footnote", which recounts the decades-long rivalry between a father-son pair of Talmudic scholars.

Some of the biggest names in European cinema saw themselves shut out on awards night including Pedro Almodovar, whose thriller about radical cosmetic surgery "The Skin I Live In" audiences applauded.

Finnish director Aki Kaurismaki's "Le Havre" about illegal immigration in France and Italy's Paolo Sorrentino's eccentric road movie "This Must Be the Place" starring Penn also defied expectations by being ignored by the jury.

A-listers sprinkled stardust during the 12-day event, including Penn, Pitt, his partner Angelina Jolie, Johnny Depp and Penelope Cruz, plus Woody Allen who turned up for his festival-opening romantic comedy "Midnight in Paris".

Cruz starred with Depp in "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" in 3-D, shown out of competition.

And attendees of the festival's sprawling market where film rights are bought and sold reported a bumper year.

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Cannes best actress Dunst grateful film was considered (Reuters)

CANNES (Hollywood Reporter) – "Wow, what a week it's been," Kirsten Dunst exclaimed as she accepted the award for best actress at the 64th Cannes Film Festival Sunday for her performance as a depressed woman whose wedding must compete with the end of the world in Lars von Trier's "Melancholia."

And that was certainly the understatement of the evening.

Ever since the movie screened Wednesday morning, it's been overshadowed by the controversy that erupted when von Trier jokingly boasted of being a Nazi at the official press conference that followed.

Sitting beside him, Dunst looked on uncomfortably as the Danish director dug himself into a hole by responding to a question about German influences on his work by saying that he understood and sympathized with Hitler.

Although the director later withdrew his comments, the festival took the highly unusual step of declaring him a "persona non grata," and he was not on hand for the closing festivities.

In her acceptance, Dunst expressed her gratitude that the jury saw past the uproar to recognize her work in the film, which will be distributed stateside by Magnolia later this year.

"This is an honor that's once in a lifetime. Thank you to the Cannes Film Festival for allowing the film to still be in competition," she said before also acknowledging von Trier by adding, "I want to thank Lars for giving me the opportunity to be so brave in this film. It's such a special night for me."

After the awards ceremony, French director Olivier Assayas, a member of the jury, said of the decision to single out von Trier's film for an award, "It is one of his best films. We all agreed about the condemnation of his comments made during his press conference. But the film is very well acted, very well written. It's a great work."

Rebecca Leffler in Cannes contributed to this report

(Editing by Chris Michaud)

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Feeling flush? Toting up the tab for Cannes (AFP)

CANNES, France (AFP) – Coming to Cannes with a movie in competition next year? Don't forget your black-tie best for the red carpet -- and above all, don't forget the money. You'll need a lot of it.

"Everybody thinks that if you're in Cannes and in competition, you must be rich -- but it's the other way around. You're broke!" says French producer Jean Brehat with a laugh.

Brehat should know. He's been haunting the Croisette since 1996, bringing a total of five films to the French Riveria so far to be considered for the Palme d'Or and other honours.

They included Bruno Dumont's "Humanite" in 1999 and "Flanders" in 2006, both of them Grand Prix winners, and Rachid Bouchareb's "Days of Glory" (2006) and "Outside the Law" (2010) in the parallel Directors' Fortnight series.

This year Brehat's baby is Dumont's "Hors Satan" in the avant-garde Un Certain Regard category.

"When a film is in competition, the festival puts up the director and two or three actors for three nights and pays the cost of the trip from the airport" a half-hour away in Nice, he said.

"You pay for everything else," including air fare, which can be pricey if a film's core team is scattered around the world.

What's more, "three nights is too little to meet all the demands of the press" who come to Cannes in force and represent a unique opportunity to plug a picture that was very likely shot on a shoestring budget.

So that means an additional two or three days in Cannes, adding up to "five or six hotel nights at 300 to 500 euros ($425 to $710) a night" for perhaps a dozen people if the screenwriter, lesser actors and co-producers join in.

"For example," he said, "you systematically have to bring a cinematographer to oversee the projection, even if the festival has its own dedicated team" to ensure the best image on the big screen.

The stakes are high, because any gaffe could handicap a producer's ability to sell a feature to distributors from all over the world who also descend on Cannes for its hugely important film market.

"It's like being a painter who gets ready for an exhibition and personally checks the way the canvases hang in the gallery," he said.

Then there's the publicist, more often than not a freelancer who brings along his or her own team and rents space for interviews -- often an apartment that can be hired only by the fortnight, not the week.

And finally, there's the small matter of a big party -- no small consideration at a festival where the talk of the Croisette can be as much about last night's fabulous soiree as it is about tomorrow's world premiere.

"For something barebones, it's 20,000 euros," Brehat said. "For something proper, you're looking at 70,000 euros."

"On the beach with 300 guests is 100,000 euros -- and at the Majestic (arguably the best hotel in Cannes) it can go up to one million euros with champagne and hors d'oeuvres."

Not counting the party, he said, having a film selected for Cannes can cost 120,000 to 130,000 euros for a big production, around half that for a smaller picture -- "and the return is zero".

"But the official competition here is the best in the world," the producer said. "There's nothing that tops it, except the Oscars."

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French actor 'arrested for mooning in Cannes' (AFP)

CANNES, France (AFP) – Police arrested a French actor for baring his bottom to fans when they asked to take a photograph of him in the movie festival town of Cannes, media and an official said Monday.

Sami Naceri, 49, star of the hit television series "Taxi", was arrested on Sunday and is in police custody, "accused of displaying an intimate part of his anatomy" in public, said the police official, who asked not to be named.

Police would not describe the offence in detail but the regional newspaper Nice Matin reported that Naceri dropped his trousers and bared his buttocks to a group of young people who asked him for a photo on the Cannes seafront.

The actor has had several run-ins with the law and last month was convicted of a knife attack in 2009. Just last week he was briefly detained in Cannes for insulting police.

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Kirsten Dunst: from boos to cheers at Cannes (AFP)

CANNES, France (AFP) – For US actress Kirsten Dunst, winning best actress at the Cannes film festival Sunday is all the sweeter as it comes five years after she was booed on the Croisette.

The 29-year-old, whose career has ranged from Woody Allen to the blockbuster "Spider Man" franchise, was feted at the Palais des Festivals for her role as Justine in controversial Danish director Lars von Trier's "Melancholia."

In 2006 she had to endure boos from French critics at a Cannes screening in Sofia Coppola's "Marie Antoinette," in which her performance in the title role clearly did not live up to Gallic expectations.

Born on April 30, 1982 in New Jersey to a German father and a former art gallery owner mother, she appeared in TV adverts from the age of three and launched her proper acting career when the family moved to Los Angeles.

Her feature debut was in Allen's 1989 "New York Stories," although she had to wait until 1994's "Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles" for her big screen breakthrough, alongside A-listers Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt.

Over the next few years she was in a string of middle-ranking hits including "Little Women," "Jumanji," "Small Soldiers" and scored rave reviews in Coppola's "The Virgin Suicides" in 1999.

Her blockbuster credentials were cemented when she played Peter Parker's love interest Mary Jane Watson in the first "Spider Man" movie, a role she reprised in "Spider Man 2" in 2004 and "Spider Man 3" in 2007.

With success came the usual temptations, and Dunst has spent at least one spell in rehab, checking into a Utah facility in 2008 that has also treated troubled starlet Lindsay Lohan, according to People magazine.

While Sunday's Cannes success will certainly have been a more welcome experience than the 2006 boos, she was philosphical about the criticism at the time.

"Of course the French are going to boo!" Dunst told Entertainment Weekly afterwards. "I didn't take it to heart. How would we feel about the French doing a movie about George Washington with French actors?"

Her success in "Melancholia" may be clouded slightly though by the row triggered by its director, who was declared persona non grata during this year's festival after saying he had some sympathy for Hitler.

When von Trier made the comments at a press conference half way through the 11-day filmfest, Dunst was among the first to register shock, murmuring "Oh my God, this is terrible" to her co-star Charlotte Gainsbourg.

Von Trier, whom she thanked in her acceptance speech, was not able to be there to celebrate with her, having been blackballed by festival organizers even though his film remained in competition.

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Cannes contenders: Malick, Almodovar, silent film (AP)

CANNES, France – Robert De Niro, an actor of few words, and a film of hardly any words could prove a perfect match as the Cannes Film Festival prepares to hand out its awards.

Among titles competing for the top prize Sunday at the world's most-prestigious film festival is French director Michel Hazanavicius' silent movie "The Artist," which charmed Cannes audiences with a story about early Hollywood likely to appeal to an actor and filmmaker such as De Niro, who heads the awards jury that also includes Uma Thurman and Jude Law.

Other possible winners of the festival's Palme d'Or include Spaniard Pedro Almodovar's horror thriller "The Skin I Live In," starring Antonio Banderas; American filmmaker Terrence Malick's expansive drama "The Tree of Life," with Brad Pitt; British director Lynne Ramsay's school-violence saga "We Need to Talk About Kevin," featuring Tilda Swinton; and Finnish director Aki Kaurismaki's heartwarming immigrant tale "Le Havre."

Hazanavicius, competing at Cannes for the first time, said he has tried to ignore the awards talk swirling about his film, which stars his wife, Berenice Bejo, and Jean Dujardin in the comic melodrama of a silent-era star whose career crumbles in the sound era.

"Some people talk and it's very nice, but I try to stay cool," Hazanavicius said. "It would be an honor to have any prize, but it's an honor to be here. This festival is so prestigious, and this year all the directors are so talented, and the films are so good. It's a good year for the festival. Some years are not so good, but everybody says this year is the perfect year."

The strong lineup includes an unusual entry from Almodovar, the Academy Award-winning director of "Talk to Her" and "All About My Mother," who has won the directing and screenplay prizes at Cannes but never the top award.

"I love the festival, but for a veteran director like me, Cannes can be an enormous trap," Almodovar said. "It is really risky to come ... because there have been times in my career when it's a more interesting, punchy story if a film fails (to win the prize) than if it gets it. I'm a much more interesting story as a loser than if I win a prize, but anyway, I try not to think about these things."

The film is a reunion between Almodovar and Banderas, who rose to stardom in the director's 1980s movies. Almodovar's films often are a mix of sober drama and blissful comedy, but this one casts Banderas as a mad scientist intent on terrible vengeance, and the tale features disturbing images of sexual assault and other violence.

Malick is another past directing winner at Cannes, for "Days of Heaven" in 1979. "The Tree of Life" is only the third film Malick has made since and marks his first trip back to Cannes, this time with a film setting the travails of a family against a cosmic backdrop, stretching from the creation of the universe through the age of dinosaurs to modern times.

Notoriously press-shy, Malick stayed out of sight at Cannes, where his film starring Pitt, Sean Penn and Jessica Chastain had been eagerly awaited for more than a year. Festival organizers had hoped to premiere "The Tree of Life" last year, but the film was not ready in time.

Malick is uncomfortable with the public trappings that go along with filmmaking, said Pitt, who doubts the director would show up to accept any awards the film might receive.

"I don't want to presume, but I would think not. He's not made for it. It's not his interest," Pitt said. "One of the film's many messages is that it's the experience, it's not the outcome, and I think it would be antithetical to him."

Three of the 20 competing films come from past Palme d'Or recipients — the troubled-youth tale "The Kid with a Bike" from Belgian brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne (two-time Cannes winners for "Rosetta" and "The Child"); the papal saga "Habemus Papam" from Italian filmmaker Nanni Moretti ("The Son's Room"); and the end-of-the-world drama "Melancholia" from Danish director Lars von Trier ("Dancer in the Dark").

Cannes organizers kicked von Trier out of the festival after a news conference in which the director said he sympathized with Adolf Hitler, made wisecracks about Jews and quipped that he was a Nazi. Von Trier later apologized and said he had been joking.

"Melancholia," which stars Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Kiefer Sutherland, remains eligible for prizes, though von Trier is banned from the awards ceremony.

Swinton, an Oscar winner for "Michael Clayton," is considered a front-runner for Cannes' best-actress prize for "We Need to Talk About Kevin," in which she plays the guilt-ridden, grieving mother whose son carried out a school massacre.

A past member of film juries, Swinton said awards make for an aggravating end to the cinema celebration that is Cannes.

"Juries have this rather strange task of giving prizes, but that's never the most important thing," Swinton said. "In my experience you go to see a lot of films and have fantastic conversations with people, and then there's this noxious process where you have to choose."

___

Associated Press reporters Jenny Barchfield and Jill Lawless contributed to this report.

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Tough choice for jury as Cannes curtain comes down (Reuters)

CANNES, France (Reuters) – The Cannes film festival jury led by Robert De Niro faces a tough choice on Sunday as it picks the winner of the Palme d'Or top prize, with movies from Finland, Spain, the United States and France all in the frame.

Guessing the winner of the world's biggest cinema showcase, overshadowed this year by the shock exit of Danish director Lars Von Trier for joking that he was a Nazi, is notoriously tricky.

The race in 2011 is seen as unusually open-ended, however, with U.S. maverick Terrence Malick a slight favorite for his metaphysical epic "The Tree of Life" starring Brad Pitt.

Also heavily favored by Cannes' notoriously picky critics are Finnish film maker Aki Kaurismaki's comedy "Le Havre," silent, black-and-white romance "The Artist" from France and Spaniard Pedro Almodovar's thriller "The Skin I Live In."

A further five movies won passionate, though not unanimous support, underlining how this year's selection has upped the ante after some disappointing competitions in recent years.

"My choice for Palme d'Or would be Aki Kaurismaki's 'Le Havre', with Pedro Almodovar's 'The Skin I Live In' and the Dardenne brothers' 'Kid With A Bike' runners-up," said Mike Goodridge, editor of movie publication Screen.

"My betting is that a Robert De Niro-led jury will go for 'The Tree Of Life'," he added.

In addition to the films, the A-listers came out in force, the parties were loud and lavish and the giant market saw bustling trade in signs that the financial crisis that dampened recent festivals was finally fading from view.

SHOCK EXIT FOR HITLER REMARKS

The movies were reduced to a sideshow on Wednesday, when Von Trier joked at a news conference about being a Nazi and Hitler sympathizer in an outburst which prompted the festival to take the unprecedented step of throwing him out the following day.

Von Trier told Reuters the decision came as a shock and reiterated that he was sorry if he had caused offence. He added, however, that his ignominious exit from a festival where he won the Palme d'Or in 2000 could enhance his credentials as a rebel.

His competition movie "Melancholia," starring Kirsten Dunst and Charlotte Gainsbourg as sisters facing annihilation in a cosmic collision, remained in competition, meaning that, in theory at least, it could win prizes including the Golden Palm.

A more likely winner was semi-recluse Malick, who presented his long-awaited take on life and death in a sweeping tale featuring footage of space, dinosaurs and volcanoes.

The movie divided critics, as did Von Trier's film that tackled equally big themes in a more pessimistic way.

Two light-hearted stories were among the favorites, unusual for Cannes where somber, downbeat films tend to dominate.

"The Artist" is a bold romance that transports viewers back to the 1920s pre-"talkie" era in Hollywood, while Kaurismaki brought "Le Havre," a touching, stylized comedy about an old shoe shiner who rescues an African immigrant from capture.

Belgium's Dardenne brothers have a chance of a record third Golden Palm with their popular "The Kid With A Bike," while another movie about troubled childhood, "We Need to Talk About Kevin" by Lynne Ramsay, led the field among female directors.

Almodovar took a walk on the dark side with a twisted thriller about a surgeon, played by Antonio Banderas, out for revenge and Turkey's Nuri Bilge Ceylan impressed viewers with his slow, beautifully crafted "Once Upon a Time in Anatolia."

Dane Nicolas Winding Refn was in the race with violent chase movie "Drive," starring Ryan Gosling, while Paolo Sorrentino turned Sean Penn into a washed up, depressed Goth rocker in "This Must Be the Place."

Last to be screened was "The Source," Radu Mihaileanu's film of an Arab woman taking on the men in her village in a story reflecting the spirit of "Arab Spring" uprisings.

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White and Nick Vinocur; editing by Philippa Fletcher)

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Cannes contenders: Malick, Almodovar, silent film (AP)

CANNES, France – Robert De Niro, an actor of few words, and a film of hardly any words could prove a perfect match as the Cannes Film Festival prepares to hand out its awards.

Among titles competing for the top prize Sunday at the world's most-prestigious film festival is French director Michel Hazanavicius' silent movie "The Artist," which charmed Cannes audiences with a story about early Hollywood likely to appeal to an actor and filmmaker such as De Niro, who heads the awards jury that also includes Uma Thurman and Jude Law.

Other possible winners of the festival's Palme d'Or include Spaniard Pedro Almodovar's horror thriller "The Skin I Live In," starring Antonio Banderas; American filmmaker Terrence Malick's expansive drama "The Tree of Life," with Brad Pitt; British director Lynne Ramsay's school-violence saga "We Need to Talk About Kevin," featuring Tilda Swinton; and Finnish director Aki Kaurismaki's heartwarming immigrant tale "Le Havre."

Hazanavicius, competing at Cannes for the first time, said he has tried to ignore the awards talk swirling about his film, which stars his wife, Berenice Bejo, and Jean Dujardin in the comic melodrama of a silent-era star whose career crumbles in the sound era.

"Some people talk and it's very nice, but I try to stay cool," Hazanavicius said. "It would be an honor to have any prize, but it's an honor to be here. This festival is so prestigious, and this year all the directors are so talented, and the films are so good. It's a good year for the festival. Some years are not so good, but everybody says this year is the perfect year."

The strong lineup includes an unusual entry from Almodovar, the Academy Award-winning director of "Talk to Her" and "All About My Mother," who has won the directing and screenplay prizes at Cannes but never the top award.

"I love the festival, but for a veteran director like me, Cannes can be an enormous trap," Almodovar said. "It is really risky to come ... because there have been times in my career when it's a more interesting, punchy story if a film fails (to win the prize) than if it gets it. I'm a much more interesting story as a loser than if I win a prize, but anyway, I try not to think about these things."

The film is a reunion between Almodovar and Banderas, who rose to stardom in the director's 1980s movies. Almodovar's films often are a mix of sober drama and blissful comedy, but this one casts Banderas as a mad scientist intent on terrible vengeance, and the tale features disturbing images of sexual assault and other violence.

Malick is another past directing winner at Cannes, for "Days of Heaven" in 1979. "The Tree of Life" is only the third film Malick has made since and marks his first trip back to Cannes, this time with a film setting the travails of a family against a cosmic backdrop, stretching from the creation of the universe through the age of dinosaurs to modern times.

Notoriously press-shy, Malick stayed out of sight at Cannes, where his film starring Pitt, Sean Penn and Jessica Chastain had been eagerly awaited for more than a year. Festival organizers had hoped to premiere "The Tree of Life" last year, but the film was not ready in time.

Malick is uncomfortable with the public trappings that go along with filmmaking, said Pitt, who doubts the director would show up to accept any awards the film might receive.

"I don't want to presume, but I would think not. He's not made for it. It's not his interest," Pitt said. "One of the film's many messages is that it's the experience, it's not the outcome, and I think it would be antithetical to him."

Three of the 20 competing films come from past Palme d'Or recipients — the troubled-youth tale "The Kid with a Bike" from Belgian brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne (two-time Cannes winners for "Rosetta" and "The Child"); the papal saga "Habemus Papam" from Italian filmmaker Nanni Moretti ("The Son's Room"); and the end-of-the-world drama "Melancholia" from Danish director Lars von Trier ("Dancer in the Dark").

Cannes organizers kicked von Trier out of the festival after a news conference in which the director said he sympathized with Adolf Hitler, made wisecracks about Jews and quipped that he was a Nazi. Von Trier later apologized and said he had been joking.

"Melancholia," which stars Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Kiefer Sutherland, remains eligible for prizes, though von Trier is banned from the awards ceremony.

Swinton, an Oscar winner for "Michael Clayton," is considered a front-runner for Cannes' best-actress prize for "We Need to Talk About Kevin," in which she plays the guilt-ridden, grieving mother whose son carried out a school massacre.

A past member of film juries, Swinton said awards make for an aggravating end to the cinema celebration that is Cannes.

"Juries have this rather strange task of giving prizes, but that's never the most important thing," Swinton said. "In my experience you go to see a lot of films and have fantastic conversations with people, and then there's this noxious process where you have to choose."

___

Associated Press reporters Jenny Barchfield and Jill Lawless contributed to this report.

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Cannes juror Thurman breaks off for funeral (AFP)

CANNES, France (AFP) – Hollywood actress Uma Thurman, a Cannes juror, excused herself from the film festival on Friday to attend a family funeral in Monaco, sources close to her said.

"Uma Thurman left Cannes for the day and she will be back for the end of the competition," one of the sources said. "She wishes to keep her commitments to the festival, despite the circumstances."

The identity of the deceased family member was unknown.

"Pulp Fiction" and "Kill Bill" star Thurman, 41, is among the nine members of the jury led this year by Robert De Niro that will decide which of 20 films in competition in Cannes will get the coveted Palme d'Or and other laurels.

The festival ends on Sunday.

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Blood, fuel power Gosling debut at Cannes festival (Reuters)

CANNES, France (Reuters) – Hollywood darling Ryan Gosling gets spattered in blood and fuel in Danish film noir "Drive," delighting Cannes critics who whooped at the film's odd blend of Hollywood dazzle and deadpan Nordic humour.

The Canadian actor, known for his roles in "The Notebook" and "Lars and the Real Girl," plays a single-minded stunt car driver who falls in love with a neighbor and gets embroiled in a gory killing fest to protect her from mafia tormentors.

Almost entirely silent throughout the film, Gosling never varies in his devotion to his love interest -- played by British actress Carey Mulligan -- or loses his sang-froid when racing down Los Angeles freeways to a pumping 1980s synth-pop score.

Highly stylized and peppered with profanity, "Drive" rolls out scene upon scene of comic gore, prompting an audience to laugh and clap as Gosling's character stomps a villain's head to a messy pulp in an elevator seconds after a passionate kiss with Mulligan in the same confined space.

The result is a bizarre concoction, with eerie aspects reminiscent of David Lynch's "Mulholland Drive," moments that recall Quentin Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction" and angst-laden love scenes that would not be out of place in a Scandinavian drama.

"The movie is about a man who drives around Los Angeles at night listening to pop music," Gosling told a press conference. "We also got the idea that the driver shouldn't be talking."

Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn, 40, known for genre movies like the crime trilogy "Pusher," said inspiration came from literature -- a 2005 book of the same name by James Sallis -- music, and the scenery of Los Angeles at night.

NO LOVE FOR FELLOW DANE VON TRIER

Refn, who emigrated to the United States from Denmark in 1981, showed little sympathy for his compatriot Lars Von Trier, who was expelled from the festival on Thursday after jokingly saying that he sympathized with Hitler.

"I think what Lars said was very unacceptable and I will not comment on his movie because I haven't seen it," Refn said.

The expulsion of Von Trier, whose film "Melancholia" is still in competition and could technically win the Palme d'Or prize for best movie, cast a shadow over the festival, which is usually a haven for art-house films and provocative directors.

In interviews since his expulsion, Von Trier explained the insensitivity he displayed during his rambling monologue about Jews and Nazis was a consequence of being Danish. Refn echoed Von Trier's reference to blunt Danish culture.

"It just shows that in Denmark we have a very small mentality and sometimes forget that there are other people around us," he said, before responding to another journalist's question with a muttered "What is it with the Danes?"

Refn's film garnered some enthusiastic early reviews from critics at Cannes, with Xan Brooks at Britain's Guardian newspaper giving it four out of five stars with the caveat that it "can't win, won't win" the festival's top prize.

(Editing by Paul Casciato)

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AmfAR gala raises $10 million, Cannes parties wind down (Reuters)

CANNES, France (Reuters) – A glitzy charity gala near Cannes, where the film festival was drawing to a close, raised over $10 million late on Thursday, well up on 2009 as conspicuous consumption returned to the French Riviera.

Stars were out in force at this year's cinema showcase, both on land, where they ran the gauntlet of the world's media to get in, and at sea, where luxury yachts provided a more intimate setting for the pleasures of fine food, wine and music.

It was a marked change from 2010, when the hangover from the global financial crisis kept a lid on late-night revelry.

The annual amfAR "Cinema Against AIDS" dinner is one of the big dates on the party circuit, and was held again this year at the exclusive Hotel Du Cap-Eden-Roc in Antibes, a short drive from Cannes.

Among those who made the trip were film festival jury president Robert De Niro, Janet Jackson, Brooke Shields, Gwen Stefani, Donatella Versace, Sean Penn and Kanye West.

The event, held in a giant marquee in the grounds of the secluded seaside hotel, was in part a tribute to Elizabeth Taylor, the actress who died earlier this year and who was among the first celebrities to campaign about AIDS and HIV.

"At the very beginning she spoke up when others wouldn't, said things that others hadn't, and she was very bold and brave in stating her conviction," said amfAR chairman Kenneth Cole. "To a large degree we're where we are because of her," he added.

Jackson said Taylor had "lit the flame, and we must carry the torch in the fight against AIDS."

During the auction, hundreds of guests were invited to bid for items ranging from rare luxury items to exclusive holidays.

Top lot on the night was the opportunity to play tennis with Prince Albert II of Monaco, son of the late Hollywood actress Grace Kelly, for which a bidder paid 500,000 euros.

Albert's fiancee, South African former Olympic swimmer and model Charlene Wittstock, raised the same amount with an impromptu offer of a private swimming lesson, taking the couple's total contribution to the night to one million euros.

A limited edition Herb Ritts photograph of Taylor sold for 150,000 euros, and a signed and dated lithograph of Andy Warhol's "Liz" went under the hammer for 400,000 euros.

As well as the auction, actress Milla Jovovich sang "I Want to be Loved by You" and Courtney Love gave an impromptu performance of two numbers.

Elsewhere during the festival, dance music thumped late into the night along the narrow beach in Cannes as the invited jostled with gate grashers to get past stern security guards and PR staff with clipboards and guest lists.

Industry magazine The Hollywood Reporter rated the parties which its reporters attended this year, and top of the pile was the soiree thrown by financing company Red Granite.

West and Jamie Foxx performed a duet on the beach opposite the swanky Carlton hotel, where guests were greeted by young women "dressed in black sheer outfits so snug they left little to the imagination."

The shindig would have earned five out of five stars in the Hollywood Reporter's rating, but was marked down for not one, but two VIP areas which included the only places to sit down.

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White, editing by Paul Casciato)

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Cannes expels Von Trier for Hitler remarks (Reuters)

CANNES, France (Reuters) – The Cannes film festival expelled Danish director Lars Von Trier on Thursday for jokingly calling himself a Nazi and Hitler sympathizer, leaving the world's biggest cinema showcase in a state of shock.

His comments angered Jewish groups and caused U.S. actress Kirsten Dunst to squirm with embarrassment beside him at a press conference on Wednesday as he launched into a bizarre monologue about his Jewish and German heritage.

The 55-year-old, formerly a darling in Cannes who won the top Palme d'Or award in 2000, quickly apologized, but it proved too little too late.

"The board of directors firmly condemns these comments and declares Lars Von Trier persona non grata at the Festival de Cannes, with effect immediately," organizers said in a statement on Thursday.

The American Gathering of Holocaust Survivors and their Descendants, which had complained after the remarks were first reported, welcomed Cannes' decision to throw Von Trier out.

"The organizers of the Cannes film festival have eloquently taken a determined moral stand against cavalier expressions of hate and insensitivity to those brutalized by the Nazis -- Jew and non-Jew," said the group's vice president, Elan Steinberg.

"We cannot look into Von Trier's heart to judge the sincerity of the 'apology' he issued. Only his future words and actions can tell us whether he understands the hurt he has caused."

France's main Jewish organization CRIF said the comments were part of what it called "the worrying tendency of normalizing Nazism."

DID HE REALLY MEAN IT?

Among hundreds of movie-goers milling about in the Mediterranean sun outside the Grand Theater Lumiere, some questioned whether the famously provocative Von Trier really meant what he said.

"He did it out of pure provocation, which is very much like Trier who always pushes the envelope," said Christophe Calmels, whose company Films Sans Frontieres distributes von Trier's 2003 film "The Five Obstructions."

"It's not surprising (his expulsion), it's what he had coming -- just like Galliano," he added, in reference to fashion designer John Galliano, who was recently sacked by Dior after footage surfaced of him making anti-Semitic comments in Paris.

"The question is did he really believe what he said?"

Von Trier's latest movie "Melancholia" is in competition in Cannes this year, and had been seen as a possible prize winner before his remarks appeared to snuff out its chances.

A spokeswoman for Cannes said she did not know whether it was the first such expulsion and if Von Trier would be allowed back to the festival in the future. She added that Melancholia would remain in competition.

During Wednesday's press conference, Von Trier joked that he was a Nazi and that he sympathized with Adolf Hitler.

"I think I understand the man (Hitler)," Von Trier said. "He's not what you would call a good guy, but I understand much about him and I sympathize with him a little bit. But come on, I'm not for the Second World War, and I'm not against Jews.

"I am of course very much for Jews. No, not too much because Israel is a pain in the ass. But still, how can I get out of this sentence?"

At the end of the conference he also muttered the phrase: "the final solution with journalists."

As the press conference broke up, Dunst, who was no longer smiling, could be heard saying: "Oh Lars, that was intense."

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White, editing by Paul Casciato)

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Cannes film review: "My Little Princess" (Reuters)

CANNES, France (Hollywood Reporter) – Being hatched from her own difficult childhood experience as a misused muse for her photographer mother doesn't lend authenticity, coherence or genuine feeling to actress-turned-director Eva Ionesco's "My Little Princess."

Dominated by an archly affected performance from Isabelle Huppert in her worst high-manic mode (think Jennifer Saunders' "Absolutely Fabulous" character in a humor vacuum), this overwrought drama about a spotlight-seeking Madame Frankenstein and her Lolita monster becomes increasingly risible.

No relation to Theater of the Absurd pioneer Eugene Ionesco, the director is the daughter of Irina Ionesco, whose provocative nude photographs of her child made waves in the Paris art world of the 1970s. Ionesco says her mother started shooting her from age four, but the child in the film is 10, no doubt to tone down the distastefulness of showing a girl of that age being grotesquely sexualized. Depiction of the actual photographs is relatively restrained, with nudity confined to older models.

The story could certainly be the basis for an intriguing psychological drama, but this isn't it. Lip service is paid to questioning the boundaries between art and pornography, but mostly this is just a lurid clash between overbearingly theatrical mama diva and petulant baby diva.

Ionesco's command of tone is too shaky to make the emotional stakes remotely serious, so despite its grounding in reality, the movie plays like something cobbled by hacks out of "Pretty Baby," "Auntie Mame," "Mommie Dearest" and "Velvet Goldmine." Actually, that makes it sound kind of fun, but don't be fooled.

Winsome Violetta (Anamaria Vartolomei) is living contentedly with her God-fearing great-grandmother (Georgetta Leahu) when her eccentric mother Hannah (Huppert) resurfaces after one of many prolonged absences. Dressed like a crazy lady with a '40s Hollywood fixation, Hannah swans around in floor-length satin gowns, furs, feathers, elaborate jewels and hats.

Violetta finds her mother's outre glamour captivating, so she submits readily when Hannah takes up photography and asks her to pose in frilly period garb. The pictures quickly transition from haunted damsels into more overtly sexual territory as Violetta is pushed to drop her bourgeois inhibitions. Overnight, Hannah is hailed as the high priestess of morbid eroticism while Violetta, sent to school dressed like a poptart flapper, becomes the class pariah.

During a trip to England to photograph a punky glamrocker (model Jethro Cave, channeling a louche version of his dad, Nick Cave), Hannah encourages Violetta to shed more clothes and get more physical in their pictures together. But Violetta balks at her requests, setting into motion an escalating love/hate battle between mother and daughter.

A child being exploited by such an egomaniacal parent should spark automatic sympathy. But Ionesco remains curiously detached from the psychological impact on Violetta, focusing more on her tantrums and preening affectations than her lost innocence. Seldom disturbing, the conflict more often veers into silliness, especially when Violetta's flouncing self-dramatization starts making Mom look stable.

The threat of legal intervention when Hannah is accused of being an unfit mother is introduced too late and too clumsily to acquire any urgency. (She turns up to the social worker interview draped in chain mail like Theda Bara, with Violetta looking like a Mack Sennett girl, so it almost seems as if she wants to lose custody.) The revelation of nasty secrets from the past about Hannah's mother is just one tawdry note too many.

Ionesco and co-scripters Marc Cholodencko and Philippe Le Guay bring a chaotic story sense to the material and remarkably little evidence of personal investment for an autobiographical drama. Perhaps it might have worked better with a more stylized approach of heightened realism, but the filmmaking is at best pedestrian, at worst inept. What's most peculiar is Ionesco's use of music, with Bertrand Burgalat's '70s-inflected score evoking everything from goofy comedy to Just Jaeckin softcore slush to Hammer House of Horror.

If only the film were from that schlock stable, then somebody might sink a meat cleaver into Hannah's skull and silence this supremely irritating character. Vartolomai is not called upon to do much beyond pout and vamp in inappropriate outfits, but trying to convey any kind of bond with Hannah would defeat the most resourceful of actors. Huppert's psychotically fussy performance might as well be happening in a void.

(Editing by Zorianna Kit)

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Von Trier 'persona non grata' after Cannes Nazi remark (AFP)

CANNES, France (AFP) – The Cannes festival Thursday declared Lars von Trier "persona non grata" after the Danish director said he sympathised "a little bit" with Adolf Hitler, but kept his film in competition.

Von Trier, a frequent provocateur, already apologised on Wednesday after telling a press conference following a screening of his apocalyptic new picture "Melancholia" that he understood the Nazi leader.

The festival board of directors "firmly condemns these comments and declares Lars von Trier a persona non grata at the Cannes festival, with effect immediately," the festival said in a statement after an extraordinary meeting.

Questioned by AFP, the festival said that von Trier's exclusion means he could in theory still win the Palme d'Or for which his film is in competition but he would not be allowed to attend the ceremony to accept it.

Someone who attended the meeting said the decree meant that von Trier "remains in competition but is asked to be discreet. So, if he wins a prize on Sunday, he's asked not to come and receive it."

The furore erupted after von Trier was on Wednesday asked about his German heritage.

"I really wanted to be a Jew and then I found out that I was really a Nazi. You know because my family was German, Hartmann, which also gave me some pleasure," he said with a cheerful smile.

"I understand Hitler. I think he did some wrong things, yes absolutely, but I can see him sitting in his bunker in the end."

Later in the day, von Trier issued a statement of apology through one of the producers of "Melancholia", adding: "I am not anti-Semitic or racially prejudiced in any way, nor am I a Nazi."

Several cinema professionals, in particular from France, on Wednesday called for the iconoclastic director to be excluded or at least sanctioned for his statements.

"The Cannes festival provides artists from around the world with an exceptional forum to present their works and defend freedom of expression and creation," the statement said.

The board "profoundly regrets that this forum has been used by Lars von Trier to express comments that are unacceptable, intolerable, and contrary to the ideals of humanity and generosity that preside over the very existence of the Festival."

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Foster thinks Cannes film can be 'therapeutic' for Gibson (AFP)

CANNES, France (AFP) – Jodie Foster drew cheers at Cannes on Tuesday for her latest film "The Beaver" and said she thought the experience of making it could be "therapeutic" for her troubled star Mel Gibson.

The small-budget drama, directed by Foster and featuring Gibson as a depressed toy company executive who turns to a beaver hand puppet to help him get his life back on track, had a shaky opening at US cinemas this month.

But critics in Cannes, where the film is screening out of competition, embraced the eccentric picture in which two-time Oscar winner Foster plays Gibson's confused wife, showering it with frequent laughs and a warm round of applause at a packed presentation.

Gibson, who has faced allegations of domestic violence and been caught in a string of misogynistic and anti-Semitic rants in recent years, skipped the traditional post-screening press conference but was due to appear on the red carpet for the gala festival screening.

"He won't be talking but he'll be here," Foster, 48, quipped as she fielded reporters' questions in English as well as her fluent French.

Much of the discussion around the film has centred on the unusual overlap between the on-screen storyline and Gibson's off-screen travails, and whether his presence in the film would be box-office poison.

Foster said she had counted Gibson, 55, as a close friend for several years and believed their work together on the movie would help him with his inner demons.

"Anything that you do, that you obsess about and give that much to for six months of your life ... allows you to look deeper at yourself and at the people around you and the fact of what you do has to have some kind of therapeutic, cathartic end," she said.

"I think that he's proud of the movie. I think he's proud of what he's shown and he wants people to see that side of him. He's an incredibly private man yet he shows on screen (something) as deep as you can possibly get. That's our way as actors, I think, of telling people, this is who I really am."

She said his notorious private life clearly fed into the role of Walter, who speaks in a Cockney accent through the beaver puppet at work, at the family dinner table and even in his marital bed to reveal his fears and desires.

"He was definitely the first on my list mostly because he's somebody who really understands how to handle humour and the lightness and the charm of the character but also has a deep understanding of the struggles," she said.

Foster said despite his public image, Gibson was "so unneurotic" as an actor that he was a pleasure to work with and actually quite popular among directors.

"I can't excuse Mel's behaviour -- only he can explain that. (But) I do know the man that I know. He's been a friend for many, many years and somebody who is probably the most loved actor in Hollywood," she said.

"As a friend he is kind and loyal and thoughtful. I can spend hours on the phone with him talking about life. He's complex and I appreciate his complexity and what his complexity brings to his work.

"This is an extraordinary performance and I am nothing but grateful for that and for what he gave to this movie. He just gave from his heart without asking for anything in return."

Foster brushed aside concerns about ticket sales, saying she was confident her "very high-concept" picture would find its audience.

"It's an independent film -- it wasn't designed to be loved by everybody," she said.

"If you gauge your self worth on your box office you will be a very sorry person. I am not my box office."

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Gibson adds voice to Foster, 'Beaver' at Cannes (AP)

CANNES, France – In Mel Gibson's new movie "The Beaver" a hand puppet does most of his talking. At the Cannes Film Festival, Jodie Foster continued to supply most of the words for her pal, though Gibson did share a few wry quips.

Foster, director and co-star of the darkly comic drama, spoke for an absent Gibson at Tuesday's news conference for the movie, which arrives after the latest scandal in his private life.

Gibson did turn up on the red carpet for the festival's glitzy premiere of "The Beaver" later, and though Foster had predicted he would not be talking, Gibson had a ready answer when a festival interviewer asked him how he got into the dark head space of his character.

"I faked it," Gibson said, before adding, "Hey, I don't know. It doesn't bear too much analysis."

Gibson has stayed out of the limelight in the months leading up to the U.S. theatrical debut of "The Beaver" on May 6, while Foster has been out publicizing the film and defending her star after his ugly breakup from then girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva, who had accused Gibson of striking her. Gibson pleaded no-contest and has been sentenced to three years probation for the incident.

As Foster was editing "The Beaver" last year, recordings surfaced of disturbing arguments riddled with sexist and racist comments that purportedly occurred between Gibson and Grigorieva.

"I can't excuse Mel's behavior. Only he can explain that," Foster told reporters at Cannes. "But I do know the man that I know. He's been a friend for many, many years, and as a friend, he is kind and loyal and thoughtful, and I can spend hours on the phone with him talking about life. And he's complex, and I appreciate his complexity and what his complexity brings to his work."

The film stars Gibson as a suicidally depressed husband and father who tries to sort through his problems with an unlikely therapist, a beaver puppet through which he communicates with his wife (Foster), their two sons and his colleagues at the failing toy company he runs.

The puppet initially rejuvenates his home life and business, but it gradually turns into a dangerous alter-ego that forces Gibson's character to an even darker place.

Critics have praised the performance as one of the best of Gibson's career, some viewing it as almost an on-screen therapy session for the actor to work on his own troubled life.

"The Beaver" was shot before the blowup over his relationship with Grigorieva, which further eroded Gibson's reputation in Hollywood after his anti-Semitic rant during a drunken-driving arrest in 2006.

Foster said she did not know whether the film might help restore Gibson's tarnished reputation, but it does offer a glimpse of his soul.

"Anything that you do that you obsess about and think about and give that much to, for six months of your life in his case and for years in mine, allows you to look deeper at yourself and at the people around you, at the effect of what you do, and that has to have kind of a therapeutic, cathartic end," said Foster, friends with Gibson since they costarred in 1994's "Maverick."

"I think he's proud of what he's shown, and I think he wants people to see that side of him. And he's an incredibly private man, so what he shows on the screen is as deep as you could possibly get, and that's our way as actors of telling people, `This is who I really am.'"

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Film stars, models share Cannes charity catwalk (AP)

CANNES, France – Fashion rolled out the red carpet for charity in Cannes, with a benefit runway show that saw A-listers including Naomi Campbell, Jane Fonda, Rosario Dawson and tennis man Novak Djokovic strut their stuff for a good cause.

Campbell's Fashion for Relief charity organized the Monday show and an auction that followed to raise money for the Japanese Red Cross to aid victims of the recent earthquake and tsunami there.

Scores of celebrities, in town for the Cannes Film Festival, turned out to support Monday's event, while a small army of models donated their time, walking in red carpet-ready looks from Lanvin, Jean Paul Gaultier, Sonia Rykiel, Valentino and a host of other top labels.

From her front-row perch, Ivana Trump hailed the decision to hold the show in Cannes during the 12-day-long film festival here as "a brilliant choice.

"All the rich people are in town for the festival, people in movies and in fashion, so they can reach into their pockets and give money to help," said Trump, looking elegant in a black minidress with a bedazzled dipping neckline. She said she hadn't yet seen any movies but planned to spend the final six days of the prestigious cinema showcase shuttling between her homes in Cannes, Monaco and Saint Tropez while attending some select films.

Another audience member, designer Peter Dundas — whose label Pucci has long been considered an iconic brand in Japan — said he'd turned out for Monday's event because "Japan's disaster is our disaster.

"More than ever, we can't think that just because something happens on the other side of the world it doesn't concern us. Of course it does," he said.

Editor-in-cheif of Japanese Vogue Anna Della Russo said the "it's in the Japanese character to be really strong and optimistic" but "they really do need help."

Asked whether she thought the disaster would affect the Japanese's notoriously extravagant sense of style, the envelope-pushing style maven exclaimed, "I hope not because they're so crazy about fashion like me and I don't want that to change."

In addition to the flock of professionals — both from the current herd of young girls that rule today's catwalks to industry veterans, led by Campbell herself, in a long lean black number — models also included tennis champ Djokovic and Grace Hightower, who's married to the president of this year's Cannes jury, Robert De Niro.

At age 73, Fonda looked divine in a shimmering second-skin gown, while Dawson rocked a floor-length burnt orange number. The crowd devoured both, showering them in applause.

None of the nonprofessional models had any problems, but one of the hottest models of the moment was undone by her oversized meringue gown. She fell once and then again and again and again — four times in a single passage — before falling again her next time out, in a sundress and towering platforms.

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Terrence Malick's long-awaited return splits Cannes (Reuters)

CANNES, France (Reuters) – The long wait for U.S. director Terrence Malick's return to the screen ended Monday with a mix of loud applause and jeers, as his drama "The Tree of Life" appeared to split critics at the Cannes film festival.

The drama starring Brad Pitt and Sean Penn tells the story of a southern U.S. family in the 1950s against a backdrop of majestic cinematography, a sweeping musical score, scenery both pastoral and otherworldly, and huge star power.

At the end of the movie, in competition for a Palme d'Or prize for best picture and widely considered the most highly anticipated film to be presented at Cannes in years, a blend of loud applause and equally passionate jeers could be heard.

But there were no doubters among Cannes' fans, who shrieked with delight when Pitt, flanked by wife Angelina Jolie and Sean Penn, walked up the famous red-carpeted staircase to the main festival venue wearing a tuxedo and sunglasses.

And while early reviews of "The Tree of Life" have been mixed, its all-star Hollywood cast has injected a powerful dose of buzz to the Riviera festival after a glum 2010 show.

Much discussed was the absence of Terrence Malick himself on the red-carpet or the traditional post-screening news conference, which cast and friends attributed to shyness.

"He is shy, he's just very shy," said French director Luc Besson. "He's not far from here."

"MAGNIFICENT" vs "PRETENTIOUS"

Pitt plays a stern father of three boys in a proper middle class town who is intent on drilling discipline and toughness into his sons -- even as his faith in the material world erodes and he loses his factory job.

"The father is the provider and in the film here you see that the American dream, as we grew up to understand it, is not working," said Pitt, who also produced the movie, at a news conference after the screening.

At a festival that places the limelight firmly on directors, Malick's absence drew many questions.

"He wants to focus on the making of and not the selling of the real estate," Pitt said of Malick. "It is an odd thing for an artist to sculpt something and then be a salesman."

In Malick's film, characters are placed on an equal plane with the natural world as the camera dwells at length on elemental scenes like yawning canyons, erupting volcanoes, explosions on the surface of the sun and primordial forests inhabited by tranquil dinosaurs.

While some critics were taken in -- Peter Bradshaw at the Britain's Guardian daily called it "magnificent," while Variety's Justin Chang said it was "extraordinary" -- others were put off, branding it "pretentious" or "self-absorbed."

"MYTHICAL STATUS"

Malick, who has only made five feature films, famously took 20 years between making his second picture "Days of Heaven" in 1978 and third "The Thin Red Line" in 1998, which won him Oscar nominations for writing and directing.

Secrecy surrounding "The Tree of Life," and Malick's aversion to publicity have given it an almost mythical status among cinephiles, with trailers giving little away.

A version of the film was reportedly withdrawn at the last minute from Cannes, despite being ready, for further editing.

"I wouldn't say there is a huge difference between where we were then and where we are now," said producer Bill Pohlad. "There was no radical change, more a process of refinement."

"The Tree of Life" has an atypical structure, reaching back to the age of dinosaurs in a long opening sequence without dialogue, before jumping into the future to introduce Sean Penn as a grown-up version of Pitt's son.

"The structure is unlike anything you've seen before, it's quite complex," said Pitt. "This film is not going to take the normal gestation period."

Some industry insiders who know the 67-year-old Malick said he had been mulling over the ideas in the movie for nearly 40 years, since the start of his directorial career in 1973 with the release of the acclaimed crime drama "Badlands."

"Terry had been collecting footage for decades, since 'Badlands'," Jack Fisk, the director's longtime production designer and collaborator, told the LA Times. "Things like eclipses and other natural wonders, just for this film."

(Editing by Paul Casciato)

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Terrence Malick's long-awaited return splits Cannes (Reuters)

By Mike Collett-White and Nick Vinocur CANNES, France (Reuters) - The long wait for U.S. director Terrence Malick's return to the screen ended on Monday with a mix of loud applause and jeers, as his drama "The Tree of Life" appeared to split critics at the Cannes film festival. Mike Collett-white And Nick Vinocur Cannes, France (reuters) - The Long Wait For U.s. Director Terrence Malick's Return To The Screen Ended On Monday With A Mix Of Loud Applause And Jeers, As His Drama "the Tree Of Life" Appeared To Split Critics At The Cannes Film Festival. – 18 mins ago

The drama featuring U.S. actors Brad Pitt and Sean Penn tells the story of a southern American family in the 1950s against a backdrop of majestic cinematography, a sweeping musical score, scenery both pastoral and otherworldly, and huge star power.

At the end of the film, in competition for a Palme d'Or prize for best picture and widely considered the most anticipated movie to be presented at Cannes in years, a blend of loud applause and equally passionate jeers could be heard.

Pitt plays a stern father of three boys in a proper middle class town who is intent on drilling discipline and toughness into his sons -- even as his faith in the material world erodes and he loses his factory job.

"The father is the provider and in the film here you see that the American dream, as we grew up to understand it, is not working," said Pitt, who also produced the movie, at a news conference after the screening.

The notoriously press-shy Malick did not appear at the news conference, a rare and unusual choice at a festival that places the limelight firmly on the director, prompting the actors to defend his decision.

"He wants to focus on the making of and not the selling of the real estate," Pitt said of Malick, who often wrote parts of the film's script on the day of the shooting. "It is an odd thing for an artist to sculpt something and then be a salesman."

In Malick's film, characters are placed on an equal plane with the natural world as the camera dwells at length on elemental scenes like yawning canyons, erupting volcanoes, explosions on the surface of the sun and primordial forests inhabited by tranquil dinosaurs.

"It's all about catching an accident," Pitt added, referring to the many scenes of nature.

"MYTHICAL STATUS"

The picture has been the most talked about of the 20 entries in the main Cannes competition, and its world premiere brings stars of the stature of Pitt and Penn to the famous red carpet in the palm-lined Riviera resort.

It also marks the halfway point of this year's festival, where many critics have complained that the glitz and glamour has yet to be matched by the overall quality of the films in competition.

Cannes organizers appear to have received that hoped-for lift in the competition from Malick -- who famously took 20 years between making his second picture "Days of Heaven" in 1978 and third "The Thin Red Line" in 1998.

That movie, which also starred Penn, won him Oscar nominations for writing and directing. Despite his thin output Malick remains among the most respected living U.S. film-makers.

Secrecy surrounding The Tree of Life, and Malick's aversion to the kind of publicity most film-makers crave, have given it an almost mythical status among cinephiles, with trailers and an official synopsis that have given little away.

The movie, which was first conceived at least five years ago after Malick had completed his fourth film "The New World" starring Colin Farrell, was reportedly ready to be shown last year but withdrawn at the last minute for more editing.

"I wouldn't say there is a huge difference between where we were then and where we are now," said Bill Pohlad, one of the film's producers. "There were no radical changes, more of a process of refinement."

"The Tree of Life" has an atypical structure, reaching back in time to the dinosaur in a long sequence without dialogue at the start of the film, before leaping into the future with Sean Penn as a grown-up version of Pitt's son.

"The structure is unlike anything you've seen before, it's quite complex," said Pitt. "This film is not going to take the normal gestation period."

Some industry insiders who know the 67-year-old Malick said he had been mulling over the ideas in the movie for nearly 40 years, since the start of his directorial career in 1973 with the release of the acclaimed crime drama "Badlands."

"Terry had been collecting footage for decades, since 'Badlands'," Jack Fisk, the director's longtime production designer and collaborator, told the LA Times. "Things like eclipses and other natural wonders, just for this film."

Pitt and Penn will follow Angelina Jolie, Robert De Niro, Johnny Depp, Penelope Cruz, Woody Allen and Owen Wilson up the red carpet at this year's film festival, where the A-listers are back after a few relatively star-light years.

(Editing by Paul Casciato)

Yahoo! News

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