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Cannes and the cult of celebrity

By Dana Rosenblatt for CNN

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CANNES, France (CNN) -- Start with the romance and allure of the French Riviera, the warm weather of an evening in late May infused with the smell of blooming jasmine, add a lineup of air-kissing international movie stars, directors, and film-makers, and voila! The 60th Cannes Film Festival gets under way.

This year's film festival opened with a bang, drawing such heavy hitters such as Brangelina, Leonardo DiCaprio, George Clooney and Matt Damon, dizzying the paparazzi as they made their made their entrance at the Grand Palais.

Aside from this year's stars, hundreds of as yet unknowns crowded the festival pavilions along the Croisette -- actors, filmmakers, and producers who came to promote their high and low budget films and documentaries.

Cannes is in effect, all about brazen self-promotion.

Riding on the SNF train journey from Paris Gare de Lyon to Cannes, it was easy to pick out the festival goers: Oversized designer sunglasses, dewy tan skin and impeccable dress, people altogether unmarred by the ravages of travel.

Once at the Cannes city center, hordes of people crowded the streets, some of them carrying the plastic cards around their necks identifying them as festival attendees, vendors, and journalists.

I had been to the Cannes Film Festival six years ago in 2001, and from my recollection this year's festival had drawn perhaps 10 times as many people as back then.

The designer stores -- Ferragamo, Dior -- filled up quickly with festival goers looking for a last minute dress or suit for their film opening or party.

Although they held up traffic, the hordes did not mar this majestic gem of a town situated along the Mediterranean, a seaside village that maintains its French charm with brasseries, boulangeries, boucheries, and fromageries.

Here, the local retirees purchase their fresh baguettes for the day and make nonchalant conversation with shop owners; seemingly nonplussed by the Cannes Film Festival hysteria.

But it is the Croisette, the long stretch of pedestrian walkway that snakes along Cannes' beach front, that is the true heart of the festival. The south end of the Croisette is relatively quiet and residential but as it winds just north, masses of festival tents are flanked by suited festival staff.

And there lies the quintessential red carpet, where the big stars make there entrance and exit and the hordes crowd to catch a glimpse of celebrity.

It was here on the red carpet that the pop band U2 delivered a surprise mini concert last Saturday evening. A large screen broadcast the concert to the masses of festival gawkers standing outside the velvet rope.

Aside for the hundreds of movie screenings, it is the cult of celebrity that gives the Cannes Film Festival that "Je ne sais quoi."

Cannes during the film festival is truly the Hollywood of the French Riviera where in passing conversation big movie deals are made and stars are either born or laid to rest.

There are the hopeful young starlets, baring white smiles, as well as the demimonde plumped up with plastic surgery; all of them are dressed to the hilt, able to effortlessly glide along the Croisette -- high heels and all.

There are shameless displays of wealth, where the eternally tanned and impeccably coiffed clink champagne glasses while driving the latest models of Bentleys, Mercedes, Porsche, and Jaguars, as if soldiers fighting a battle of the upwardly mobile.

Outside the beachfront Hotel Martinez, gawkers stand and wait for hours for a glimpse of celebrity entering or departing the hotel.

A celebrity sighting causes a ripple effect of momentum building cheering and jostling of the crowds.

As for the celebrities that enter and depart the Martinez, there seems a tacit understanding that they will play the celebrity role well -- waving to their adoring crowds, signing autographs, and reveling in their perch as if to say, "Let them eat cake."

One such celebrity, French singer and actor Patrick Bruel, graciously acquiesced to his adoring fans outside the Martinez.

As the swarthy star was harried away by car and driver, he stopped to sign a few autographs to the crowds that spilled over his black car with tinted windows, screaming "Patreek, Patreek!"

Another famed French actor, Gerard Depardieu, was also thronged by admirers as he attended a daytime yacht party on the northern end of the Croisette, also attended by actress Bai Ling.

As the sun sets, the sound of techno and bass and ambient music take over this once serene town situated along the Riviera. Along the Croisette, there is one party only followed by another, each one flanked by black-suited bouncers demanding invitations only.

But the gawkers and masses still linger and wait for the rare opportunity to catch a glimpse of celebrity and the high-life along the Riviera.