Cannes 2026 – Day 1: Peter Jackson’s “bad taste”, Theodora vs the Beatles, an electric opening…

Every day, the hot spot live from the 79th Cannes Film Festival.

Film of the day: The Electric Venus by Pierre Salvadori

With The Electric VenusCannes offered itself a choice opening. Salvadori takes us to the Paris of 1928, where a painter, inconsolable since the death of his wife for whom he feels responsible, will regain a taste for life… thanks to a real-false clairvoyant through whom he believes he is making contact with her. A story of love(s) and lie(s) sublimated by Salvadori’s writing talent. His inventiveness in situations and the virtuosity of mischievously poetic dialogues. His genius in knowing how to manage his twists and turns by always revealing at the right time a buried secret that reshuffles the cards of our certainties. And offers an infinite playground for the actors who bring this story to life – Pio Marmaï, Anaïs Demoustier, Gilles Lellouche and Vimala Pons in the lead. Four virtuoso soloists with an intoxicating score, as light as it is deep, as mischievous as it is poetic.

The full review

Star of the day: Peter Jackson

“ I don’t make the kind of films that win Palmes d’Or » said Peter Jackson while receiving his Palm of Honor during the opening ceremony. He looked half surprised, half amused, a little bewildered, his hair unruly, his tuxedo not very well fitted, faithful to his image as a good-natured geek fleeing social life and hiding for years in his New Zealand studios.

Jackson retraced his history with the Cannes festival, a dotted history (only two visits in almost forty years!), marked not by official selections, but by screenings at the film market where he presented his crazy prototypes to the industry: first his homemade manifesto Bad Taste in 1988, then around twenty minutes of the first part of the Lord of the Rings in 2001. Clearly not films that win Palmes d’Or, in fact.

But for several years, the Palmes d’Honneur have also been used for that: to reward filmmakers or studios whose history has been written in parallel with Cannes, from George Lucas to Ghibli. Peter Jackson forged his cinema destiny far from the Cannes competition. Which explains why his tuxedo is a little less well cut than Park Chan-wook’s.

Song of the day: The Beatles by Theodora and Oklou

Peter Jackson was treated to a bonus gift with a rendition of “Get Back” by Theodora and Oklou, introduced by an excerpt from his documentary on the Beatles. We imagined the “Boss Lady” twisting the standard of the little guys from Liverpool. No way. This version produced by SebastiAn, one of the geniuses of the French touch, was on the contrary very (too?) wise and reverential. To the delight of Jackson who attended the show sitting on a stool next to the stage, with the mistress of ceremonies Eye Haïdara, humming the lyrics. “Get Back! Get Back! Get Back to where you once belonged !”

Quote of the day: Guillermo del Toro

Come to present the restored version of Pan’s Labyrinththe Mexican filmmaker remembered with emotion the film’s reception at Cannes, 20 years earlier, before taking a more serious tone to draw a parallel between his fantastic drama about the Franco dictatorship and the state of the world today (via Variety):

“We unfortunately live in a time which makes this film more relevant than ever, because we are told that there is no point in resisting, that we can make art with a damn application (…) But I think and I believe, like little Ofelia in the Pan’s Labyrinththat if we can even leave a trace, if we can put our faith against our faith and our strength against our strength, then there is hope. The last thing we can do is succumb to love or succumb to fear. Never, ever, ever succumb to fear.”

Guillermo del Toro Declares Art Can’t Be ‘Done With a F—ing App!’ as He Brings ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ Back to Cannes After 20 Years: ‘The Second Worst Filmmaking Experience of My Life’ https://t.co/Dp366VZyW3

— Variety (@Variety) May 12, 2026

Interview of the day: Anaïs Demoustier and Gilles Lellouche

Already partners three times (Therese Desqueyroux by Claude Miller, Daaaaaaali And Smoking makes you cough de Dupieux), Anaïs Demoustier and Gilles Lellouche had dreamed of filming with Pierre Salvadori for years. A dream come true. Because he chose them to embody respectively the true false clairvoyant and the best friend (and merchant) of the painter character played by Pio Marmaï in The Electric Venus. Two great numbers from actors who take part in the crazy pleasure taken in this comedy as twirling as it is endearing.

Today in Cannes

Now it’s time for serious things. This Wednesday, the competition starts with A few days in Nagi by Koji Fukada and A Woman’s Lifeby Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet, performed by Léa Drucker. The Un certain regard section welcomes for its opening the new film by Jane Schoenbrun (I Saw the TV Glow), which we hope will keep the promises of its crazy title: Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma.

Kick-offs for the parallel sections too, with Butterfly Jam by Kantemir Balagov (starring Riley Keough and Barry Keoghan) at the Filmmakers’ Fortnight, the very buzzed animated film In Waves (by Phuong Mai Nguyen) at Critics’ Week, and Bad starby Lola Cambourieu and Yann Berlier, at ACID.

Abandonmenta film about the last days of Samuel Paty, will be shown out of competition, while Peter Jackson (winner of an honorary Palme d’or) and Claire Denis (awarded a Golden Coach from the Quinzaine des filmmakers) will give masterclasses. Will that be all? That would be counting without Vin Diesel, who insisted on climbing the steps of the Palais des Festivals to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Fast and Furious during a midnight session. We put the Coronas in the fridge!

Bonus: Premiere of the Cannes special:

To better understand the challenges of this 79th Cannes Film Festival, don’t miss our show to follow on the Première YouTube channel. Make an appointment, there will be a number every two days for the duration of the event.