Cannes is in full swing, but it seems like it’s an unusually muted year, at least on the business side of things. Beyond the festival, Cannes is also a film market, but like Sundance earlier this year, blockbuster deals are not really happening—a recession indicator. Everyone is nervous and protecting their bottom line. It also feels like the fashion is a little muted, too. I haven’t seen one stupendous look that has taken my breath away. Is it because of the ban on voluminous gowns? Or are we just in a period of more conservative designs? 

 

On Sunday, Wes Anderson’s new film, The Phoenician Scheme, held its premiere, and it brought out one pretty good dress, worn by Mia Threapleton. She looked so familiar, it was driving me nuts, and then I found out she’s Kate Winslet’s daughter. She wore an emerald gown by Oscar de la Renta, which seems like an homage to her mother’s 1998 Oscar dress.

 

Kate’s Oscar dress was by Givenchy. I remember it not so much because of the dress itself, although I do remember thinking Winslet looked beautiful in it, but because of the look on her face when she lost Best Actress to Helen Hunt. If the internet was back then what it is today, we never would have heard the end of Kate Winslet’s reaction to losing. It’s not even a bad reaction—no eye roll, no frown, nothing NEGATIVE. She just looks so honestly surprised.

 

 

Kate Winslet won a decade later for The Reader, so everyone got theirs in the end. Including Mia Threapleton, who was awarded the Variety and Golden Globes Breakthrough Artist Award, a totally real thing that is not at all a marketing ploy. She has been acting since 2014, including a recurring role on The Buccaneers, but The Phoenician Scheme is (hopefully) her breakout role. The movie opens later this month, and Focus Features released a short making-of featurette. Of course, Wes Anderson uses a megaphone on set.

 

 

Anyway, aside from Mia Threapleton, the premiere brought out many of her co-stars, including Benedict Cumberbatch (with his arm in a sling) accompanied by his wife, Sophie Hunter; Bill Murray; Michael Cera; Jeffrey Wright; Rupert Friend; Riz Ahmed along with his wife, writer Fatima Farheen Mirza (never forget they met in a coffee shop!); Benecio Del Toro, looking VERY hot; and Charlotte Gainsbourg. Interestingly, Charlotte wore almost the exact same shade of green as Mia. Coincidence or coordinated?

On the jury side, Jeremy Strong continues his dedication to strongly colorful suiting, and Halle Berry wore a semi-tragic Chanel suit. When do we start holding Chanel accountable for their design crimes?

 

The premiere also drew a lot of guests, including Julianne Moore, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Charlotte Le Bon, Daisy Edgar-Jones, and Edward Norton. 

Oh, and Shia LaBeouf, who is at the festival as the subject of a documentary called Slauson Rec, which depicts his attempt to build a theater company in South Central Los Angeles. Snippets from Variety’s recap of the doc’s premiere include:

- …played more like a descent into ego-driven insanity, complete with physical violence and harrowing screaming matches.

- …he flies off the handle berating actors and crew members with sanctimonious lectures and laugh-out-loud disbelief when the star tries to justify his behavior in the aftermath.

- …an endless loop of rage and regret, which caused nearly 30 audience members to trickle out of the auditorium during the screening.

- The emotional terror LaBeouf wreaks borders on the inhumane.

We can just NOT support a Shia LaBeouf comeback. That IS an option. Everyone knows that, right?