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I love the French title for The Great Gatsby and am sort-of looking forward to seeing the film later this week.  The hesitation is because I do find Baz Luhrmann films over-sensationalised – ‘Moulin Rouge’ being a case in point.  And with 3D, and at 2 1/2 hours long, I should imagine the whole experience will be even more over the top, especially with all those extravagent parties to film plus the glamorous 20s costumes and cars.  In fact the novel itself is slender and poetic, an observation on love and longing, on the American dream and human aspiration, and on moral and financial corruption.  He’s pulled together a great cast of experienced actors – I hope there is some subtlety left.

With neat timing, there is a book about to be published, ‘Flappers: Six Women of a Dangerous Generation’ by Judith Mackrell.  She profiles women who seized the opportunities of post WW1 freedom and, she writes, ‘demanded to do everything that had been denied their mothers’.  Jazz dancer Josephine Baker, artist Tamara de Lempicka and actress Tallulah Bankhead represent the arts; Diana Cooper and Nancy Cunard are from aristocractic British families; and the sixth is of course Zelda Fitzgerald.  

 Zelda is a fascinating and controversial figure whose stormy and alcohol-fuelled relationship with Scott has intrigued critics for years.  This year, there are no less than four novels inspired by her – details here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/apr/21/zelda-fitzgerald-troubled-life

But back to the film….on Wednesday 15th May, we can watch the Cannes Opening Ceremony at 19:00 at the Cézanne, followed by the film at 20:00.  This will be in 3D and in French.  The film is actually released that day; the French version will be at the Cézanne and the VO at the Renoir.

I am ending today with a beautiful painting by Charles Camoin, an artist I am increasingly enjoying and will post about later in the week.  It shows la Croisette in Cannes just over a hundred years ago, not a bloated boat or paparazzo in sight!