Cannes 2003 Report

Cannes, like Paris for Hemingway, is a moveable feast. So if the Competition appears somewhat lacking, as it did this year, you spend more time viewing entries in Un Certain Regard. Or you pay a couple more visits to the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs. Or you check out entries at the Semaine Internationale de la Critique. Or you cue up at the Federico Fellini Retrospective to see Claudia Cardinale introduce 8 ½ (Italy, 1963). Or you marvel at Oliver Stone's adroit command of French at his Le Leçon de cinéma, the festival's annual "film master class." Or you relive a moment of Cannes history at a Soirée in memory of the late French producer Daniel Toscan du Plantier in the Salle Debussy, where a large French film delegation turned up for a special screening of Maurice Pialat's Sous le Soleil de Satan, the 1987 Palme d'Or winner produced by...