Varda the Message

Here's a description of the party from Uncut magazine:

"The Velvet Goldmine party on the last Friday of Cannes 1998 is the fortnight's most exclusive bash. It takes place in a palatial, marble-floored villa high above a widescreen Mediterranean vista. The rooms are decked out in crushed velvet, the French serving staff in stack heels and garish Glam gear. Journalists are banned, but megastar rockers and Hollywood talents have jetted in from all over the globe. Sigourney Weaver, Winona Ryder, Bono and a raddled looking Bryan Ferry are shuttled by limousine through the military-strength security cordon, past the seething crowds, then decanted onto a red carpet stretching right from the gates to the front door.
Inside, they join the film's cast, crew and an ultra-select guest list of around 300 others in a surreal timewarp of Roman revelry and Seventies decadence. In silver nail varnish and facial glitter, Michael Stipe holds court in the garden while Eddie Izzard shows off his rather fetching frock. The DJ duo, the Heavenly Birds, specially imported from London clubland, are on strict instructions to play mostly Glam tunes, but movie business schmoozers keep asking them to turn the volume down. Donna Matthews from Elastica leads some friends onto the dancefloor, but serious party action is not on the cards. With champagne on limitless tap all night, the mood is understandably relaxed.
Todd Haynes surveys this retro revivalist orgy and privately worries whether his film is heading for triumph or turkey status. In this air-kissing celebrity netherworld, of course, Velvet Goldmine is an unqualified masterpiece. But word from the Cannes screenings has been mixed, to say the least. The press conference was full of bafflement and veiled criticism. Some reviewers have already drawn parallels with Absolute Beginners, that nadir of vacuous Eighties style-whore cinema. All the young dudes carry the news, but the news is not always good.
Velvet Goldmine gives a sexy Citizen Kane remix to the early Seventies career of Bowie-esque rocker Brian Slade. In his Glam Rock prime, Bowie was a polysexual peacock and inspiration to suburban escapists everywhere. Shedding identities and shamelessly stealing those of others, Bowie was the most heroically ambitious, subversive, progressive, audaciously intelligent and life-affirmingly ridiculous rock icon ever constructed. He was a penis in furs, and he dared to dream.
Writer/director Haynes weaves a kaleidoscopic fantasia of wiggy starlust from the rich mythology of Glam Rock. David Bowie, Angie Bowie, Iggy Pop, Marc Bolan and Brian Eno are all here, half-concealed behind flimsy disguises. It's the past as fantasy, an ultra-camp alternative history dressed in Biba and photographed by Helmut Newton. A big lie, in other words, but a lie that tells the truth. The very definition of camp.
David Bowie acted and sang in Absolute Beginners, of course, but has publicly snubbed Velvet Goldmine. While William Randolph Hearst used his publishing empire to attack Citizen Kane, Bowie simply declined to let his music be used in the movie named after one of his songs and inspired by his life. In Cannes to promote his latest film role alongside Goldie in the gay gangster drama, Everybody Loves Sunshine, Bowie is rumoured to be heading for the party. He never arrives."


Christine Vachon in an article in Slate for the 2000 Cannes Film Festival said, "On any given night, there are a dozen parties in villas, on the beach, and in boats that are strictly Invitation Only. Some are planned in advance and some are spontaneous. And any party that has a limited invite list, no matter who is throwing it, becomes a hot ticket. (The Velvet Goldmine Party we threw at Cannes two years ago was incredibly exclusive — people were actually beaten down by security guards as they tried to climb over the fence.)"

Miramax head Harvey Weinstein added to the promotional buzz by being quoted in Variety that Velvet Goldmine "makes Boogie Nights look like Mary Poppins." [tsk tsk, we know better...] Miramax's involvement with the picture raised expectations. From indywire:
With Miramax already behind the film, the Cannes competition is the perfect launch pad. Harvey must be proud. Deeply entrenched in the 70's glam rock days of taffeta and platform shoes, Haynes swims in the times, incorporating awkward 70's zooms, early MTV-like sequences, feathers, flowers and all the accoutrements of the era to investigate the rise and disappearance of a fictional superstar named Brian Slade. ... The film combines memory, fantasy, past and a mid-1980's present in some hallucinatory moments and a fluid feel which might just be a hit with the kids.

Miramax was supportive despite rumors to the contrary. In a later indywire article: "Answering claims that Miramax's reputed homophobia got in the way of the production, Christine Vachon said at a New York Film Festival press conference, "Miramax got involved very early on and I have to say, never at any point, whatever horror stories we've heard aside, we were never pressured whatsoever by Miramax to make cuts in the film around its gay content, to cut out anything specifically because it was gay. We never experienced that homophobia."

Johnny was allowed a break from filming Ride with the Devil to go to Cannes. He didn't have as much fun as he might have as star of the picture, the long hair he was sporting for his role as Pitt Mackeson slowed him down: The Nice customs didn't like the look of him and go through his luggage with a fine-tooth comb. It's bad enough that he's carrying a guitar and has a sleeve-pocket stuffed with penny whistles, but there's another image problem. In the Ang Lee film Johnny plays a hillbilly psychopath; he's been given hair attachments that extend halfway down his back, and he seems quite convincingly in character. The flight problems mean that Johnny has missed his morning interviews in Cannes... There's an especially large throng outside the Martinez, and a big contingent of security guards and police to hold them back. They take one look at Johnny's hair and refuse to let him in. As we both try to telephone the people expecting us inside, the police start to push us away. "This is disgusting!" fumes Johnny. "They're judging me by the way I look!" Johnny vows he is going to leave Cannes immediately. A girl dashes out through the guards, throws someone's security pass around Johnny's neck, and we're whisked past the dumbfounded guards.

Two years later the bad memories lingered for Johnny according to a Vogue UK article:
At the time, Rhys Meyers was going out with Toni Collette, who played his girlfriend in the film. He vividly remembers the entrance they made at the premiere in Cannes. "I felt lower then than I did when I was 13 years old," he says gravely. "I remember getting out of the limo with Toni and Christian Bale and walking towards all these photographers, and they were going, 'Hey! Toni! Look over here! Hey, Christian, here!' And I just walked on because nobody had an idea who I was. It was a horrible experience."

The press' reception to the film at Cannes was mixed; not a surprise coming from a country whose greatest contribution to rock & roll was Johnny Hallyday. The British press seemed to enjoy comparing it with Absolute Beginners - a failure of imagination on their part since the only things the films had in common were a stylish retro look at rock & roll and David Bowie.

In an interview from around the time of the release of Far From Heaven, Christine Vachon spoke about Cannes, "The jury was split. In the end it got a small prize – we were thrilled, don't get me wrong – but it was a consolation prize. Some jurors didn't want to give it anything but Martin Scorsese was very enthusiastic. He told Todd that the movie had made him realise how much fun cinema could be."

The article (from "The Independent") continued with Todd's point of view: The reaction after Cannes was mostly indifferent or hostile, and soon rumours were circulating that Haynes had retired from film-making. "It did affect me," he says now, "but not as much as people think. The media interest in the film's fashion and soundtrack broadened my expectations prior to it being released. But when I look at what the film is, and what the market is – come on! What was I thinking?"

The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on May 21*, 1998. It was nominated for the Palme D'Or but it was awarded the Prix de la meilleure contribution artistique or Best Artistic Contribution Prize. There are official prizes for the films in competition but the Jury also has the option of creating a new prize for films that don't necessary fit into those categories, which they did. In his acceptance speech Todd thanked Oscar Wilde and Roxy Music "for giving us so much to aspire to." The President of the Jury in 1998 was Martin Scorsese, and the members were actresses Chiara Mastrioianni, Lena Olin, Winona Ryder, and Sigourney Weaver; writer Zoe Valdes; directors Chen Kaige, Alain Corneau, and Michael Winterbottom, as well as Singer/Rapper MC Solaar.

Scorsese is well known for his effective use of rock music in the soundtracks of his films and coincidentally both he and Todd have films about Bob Dylan in the works. In an interview in Select magazine Todd said, Scorsese told me that the film inspired him to make films again.

Here are some pictures from the festival from the delightful Venus, the fan planet:



*although different articles state the date as both the 22nd & 23rd.