Monday, May 23, 2011

Cannes Film Festival for the Non-Famous

My husband has a client  that had work at the Cannes Film Festival.  
So OF COURSE I *had* to go with him.
**sigh.  I'm such a good, supportive wife.**

Seeing that I'm NOT famous, don't have people, most certainly don't have a movie coming out and don't add any value to my husband's client (except that I really like the people he works with over there), it was imperative that I go just to offer my insights into the entire crazy event.

I characterize it as this....


Spring Break for really really really wealthy people...OR people who want to see really really  wealthy people....OR people who THINK they are supremely important. 

Just like Spring Break in Panama City Beach, Florida, people cruise the street, try to look cool, dress in clothes they should NOT be wearing, and act like they are much too cool to be bothered with the likes of YOU.  If you put some of them in airbrushed t-shirts, it would BE Spring Break '11 PCB, Baby!

The people watching was amazing.  

This post is a little long with many pictures.  I've even pared it down, but I want you to get the full effect of my experience.  

It started with Ivana Trump sitting right in front of us on the flight from New York to Nice, France.  And after 8 hours on the plane, she looked just as fresh as she did the minute she boarded.  I still have no idea how she did that.  


The first day we were there, my husband's client let us borrow this sweet ride to drive to Monaco.  Truly a dream come true and there were no shortage of people taking pictures of this car and probably wondering who the jet-lagged Americans were who were getting out of it.

Cannes Film Festival is kind of like Sundance Film Festival in that many of the films are independently produced and tend to be a little "artsy".  There were a few blockbuster films being shown, but most of the films we heard about were ones that, safe to say, were not going to be showing up at my local movie theater.  Anyway, because of this, there was always the opportunity to do some star spotting.

We were there at the same time as Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt.  I never saw them, but we did hear the roar of the crowd when they stepped out of this hotel...


There are three main hotels in Cannes--The Martinez, The Carlton and one other whose name escapes me.  When Brangelina came out, there were probably 200 people/paparazzi waiting to get a shot of the famous couple. Some people were waiting upwards of 14 hours for a look at these people.
 My husband and I were eating.  I love to eat and eating always trumps waiting for celebrities.


Here is a typical beach front restaurant.  The Carlton hotel is behind us, across the street.  Do you see the Smurfs billboard on the top in the middle of the hotel?  Promotional stuff like that was all over.  Just after this picture was taken, look who walked by...


Melanie Griffith!  Antoino Bandaras is behind her in the white t-shirt.  They were heading down the dock to a skiff and then on to lunch at one of the many mega-yachts anchored nearby.  This isn't flattering of her, but she really was beautiful in person and very tiny!


This was at the end of the dock/beachfront restaurant we were eating at our first day.  See what I mean about the movie displays?

Another thing to do is eat at a hotel called Eden Roc.  Evidently it where Jennifer Lopez stays when she visits Cannes.  Brangelina were staying there, but we didn't see them.  We were there one evening to have dinner with my husband's clients.  The restaurant was outside and beautiful.

That is the view from our table.  It was much too cold to swim (at least for me), but our hosts said that lots of people had been swimming earlier that day.  I can't imagine diving into that cold water....

After dinner we went to the hotel for drinks.  Doesn't that sound just so ritzy?  It was waayyyy after my bedtime, so I was honestly afraid that I would fall asleep.


My husband and I can see why celebrities stay there.  The entire place looks like a movie set.  Once we get into the lobby/bar area, guess who walks up?  My new BFF- Melanie Griffith!  AND she was with Jane Fonda and Robert Di Niro.  They were sitting just on the other side of  the glass partition from our group.  Practically in the same room.  Practically having the same conversation as us!  I mean, PRACTICALLY *IN* OUR CONVERSATION!  No, not really, but we did lean way over in our seats and stare and whisper about what famous people we were seeing.  No pictures of that.  I hadn't perfected my covert picture taking skills at that point.


If you wash, rinse, repeat these activities, you've got the Cannes experience!

It was amazing and a once in a lifetime opportunity.  Thanks to my Husband and  his client we had a fantastic time!

Now it is summer break at my house and it doesn't seem quite so glamorous.  Maybe I can give my kids cameras and tell them to follow me around like paparazzi.

Hmmm....now that's an idea.  

2 comments:

  1. ahhhhh! So my hubby had to go to Hawaii for work and (because I'm just such a supportive wife as well) I agreed to go for 2 weeks...that was super cool but I'm pretty sure THIS tops that ;) Awesome! I'd love to see more pictures!!!

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