And so, to the first full day of films at Cannes! Sarah and I were up at 6.00am, out of the apartment by 6.30am, and in our first queue at Cannes by 6.45am. We were the only people in said queue for a good half an hour – a rare experience here, with a lesson to learn. The 8.30am film in the Semaine de la Critque strand, does not require you to queue for two whole hours before the screening to guarantee your entrance. For every other film however, at all other times (bar a ticketed red carpet affair in the Grand Theatre Lumiere), this two hour guideline I have found to be essential to stand a chance of watching the film you desire. Sarah nipped off to grab a coffee for us, whilst I sat down and found the time to read through the official programme and orient myself with the day’s upcoming screening.

Sat down in a non-existent queue at 6.45am? Why, you may ask? We were there to watch the Elie Wajeman’s LES ANARCHISTES, the opening film to Semaine de la Critque. Starring Tahar Rahim (GRAND CENTRAL) and Adele Exarchopoulos (BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOUR), the film is a period piece, set in the Paris of 1899, but with contemporary resonances. If read as a case study of “when governments become procrastinating and ineffectual, then fringe extremist groups thrive, and must be spied on.” If read purely as a period drama, then the dialogue at times drags the narrative down into somewhat of a hackneyed set-piece. I think Sarah and I were expecting a few more explosions from a film about anarchists who want to blow lots of things up. That said, the camera still adores Adele Exarchopoulos, and it really feels like she is one of the shining lights of twenty-something French actresses at the moment. I’d happily watch a few more decades worth of films with Adele in the lead role!

We dashed out of the cinema, and after a brisk walk along La Croisette, we split. Sarah was off to a morning screening of TALE OF TALES, my 10.30pm film (so more on that later), and I was up to the Salle du Soixantième, the cinema tent (of about 400 capacity) which offers repeat screenings of films that played in the Lumiere that day before. I was there to watch Emmanuelle Bercot’s LA TÊTE HAUTE, as it was the opening film of the whole festival, and looked like a French version of THE SELFISH GIANT – a film I am very fond of. Following the life of troubled youth, Maloney, played by “non-actor” Rod Paradot, and with Catherine Deneuve as the Judge in charge of passing sentence on Maloney’s many felonies, the film is a relentless barrage of the nature/nurture question behind why someone keeps following a certain reckless path in their life. Cars are stolen, fights picked, and there’s an awful lots of raging going on from Maloney, who is obviously in a conflicted state of mind. With a runtime of two hours, I was very ready for the protagonist to turn a corner for good, sooner rather than later, but Bercot leaves you agonising for much longer than expected.

Grabbed a sandwich for lunch and sat by the beach, soaking up the sun and enjoying watching the hundreds of Cannes visitors pass me by. Very pleasant to have near complete anonymity. Post-sandwich, a brisk dash back to the Mirimar, the cinema from the morning, and my first Canadian film of the festival, SLEEPING GIANT by Andrew Cividino. This is a predominantly handheld, coming-of-age drama, that the festival programmer said he’d picked out of an assortment of over seventy films he’d seen at a festival in Canada earlier in the year. Opening with an ominous drumbeat and wide-angle shot of a rocky hill on the edge of a lake – similar to the vista of the Sleeping Warrior for anyone who’s ever caught the ferry over to the Isle of Arran – you just know that like a gun introduced in film, at some point, this sleeping giant is going to wake up and cause some damage. Lovely to see the director and his cast on stage to introduce the film beforehand. Realised somehow I had managed to see two teenage-angst films in a row. Stressful!

Back to the apartment with Isabelle McNeil, Cambridge University lecturer and Cambridge Film Festival stalwart, to get changed into smart evening wear for Matteo Garrone’s TALE OF TALES. There were sea monsters, ogres, giant fleas, and witch suckling. So much so that I feel this one deserves a stand-alone review, so if time allows in a queue today, I’ll get one written up. TALE OF TALES was easily my favourite film of the day, partly because it was a lot of fun, and equally because I found myself thinking, if this is in competition this year, anything goes! To bed by 1am, and then up at 7am for Day 3 of the festival!