The Cannes Film Festival has unveiled the poster for the 76th edition featuring none other than Gallic cinema icon Catherine Deneuve.
The black and white photo pictures the noted performer in the film “La Chamade” (Heartbeat), directed by Alain Cavalier. Shot in 1968 on Pampelonne beach, near Saint-Tropez, the film stars Deneuve as Lucile, who the festival describes as living a “worldly and superficial life, tinged with ease and a taste for luxury. Her heart beats frantically, hurriedly, passionately.”
Cannes official 2023 poster featuring Catherine Deneuve
The festival called her “an embodiment of cinema, far from what is conventional or appropriate. Without compromise and always in tune with her convictions, even if it means going against the grain of the times,” recalling that Deneuve has been the muse of filmmakers including Jacques Demy, Agnès Varda, Luis Buñuel, François Truffaut, Marco Ferreri, Manoel de Oliveira, André Téchiné, Emmanuelle Bercot and Arnaud Desplechin.
In addition to her classic films “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg,” “Repulsion,” “The Young Girls of Rochefort” and “Belle de Jour,” Deneuve was Oscar-nominated for “Indochine.”
She was vice president of the 1994 Cannes jury headed by Clint Eastwood which awarded “Pulp Fiction” the Palme d’or, and received an Honorary Palme d’or in 2005 and the special prize of the 61st festival in 2008 for career achievement.
Cannes, which runs May 16-27, announced its official selection last week, with films including “Killers of the Flower Moon,” “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” and Wes Anderson’s “Asteroid City.”
The official poster was created by Hartland Villa (Lionel Avignon, Stefan de Vivies) from a photo by Jack Garofalo.