Heelgate and beyond: 13 controversial Cannes moments

CHRISTOPHE KARABA heels
Credit: CHRISTOPHE KARABA

Over the festival’s 69-year-run, Cannes has witnessed red carpet punch-ups, fainting after films and mankinis. Here are the most scandalous highlights

1. Heelgate (2015)

Emily Blunt at Cannes in 2015
Emily Blunt at Cannes in 2015 Credit: Getty Images/Pascal Le Segretain

The festival received backlash from film fans and feminists after a group of 50-year-old women were turned away from the red carpet for not wearing high heels. Some of the women were wearing flat shoes due to medical conditions, and the act sparked a huge reaction on social media. British actress Emily Blunt, whose film Sicario was in competition, commented: “Everyone should wear flats, to be honest. We shouldn’t wear high heels."

 

2. Lars von Trier announces that he's a Nazi (2011)

Lars von trier
Credit: Michael Buckner

Credit: Michael Buckner

No stranger to controversy at Cannes, Lars von Trier was banned from the festival after declaring himself a Nazi at a press conference for his film Melancholia. "I understand Hitler," he said. "He did some wrong things, absolutely, but I can see him sitting there in his bunker at the end ... I sympathise with him, yes, a little bit." Although he later insisted that the comments had been made in jest, this was not the first time Von Trier had spoken out at Cannes, labelling Roman Polanski a "midget" at the festival in 1999, and stating that Björk "would never act again" after her performance in Dancer in the Dark in 2000.

 

3. Irréversible leaves audience members requiring medical attention (2002)

Irreversible cast
Credit: Phil Loftus/Capital Pictures

Gaspar Noé’s divisive drama not only caused 250 people in the audience to walk out of its Cannes debut, but some had to be administered oxygen after passing out. Containing graphic scenes of murder and rape, Irréversible received a standing ovation from the remaining viewers, although not leading man Vincent Cassel’s brother, who was so affected by the content that he interrupted the screening to shout threats at the director across the cinema.

4. America Ferrera is pranked on the red carpet (2014)

Ukrainian journalist Vitalii Sediuk continued a streak of harassing A-listers in 2014 by crawling under actress America Ferrera’s dress while she promoted How to Train Your Dragon 2. Will Smith and Bradley Cooper had fallen victim to Sediuk prior to the attack; Smith once threw a punch at the prankster for trying to kiss him, while Cooper endured an intimate embrace from Sediuk before security guards got to him.

 

5. A New Wave revolution turns ugly (1968)

In 1968, Cannes was affected when a wave of student protests and a workers' general strike swept across France. Sympathising with the protesters, Cannes jury member Louis Malle, the French director who had previously won the Palme d’Or, spearheaded a move to have the jury resign and the festival shut down. He succeeded, though he then found himself persona non grata in the town of Cannes. “I went to the Café Bleu next door to the Palais and they refused to serve me,” he lamented.

 

6. Van Damme vs Lundgren (1992)

While promoting their film Universal Soldier on the Cannes red carpet, reported tension peaked between lead actors Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren. Bad feelings between the pair had been documented in the press, and what later turned out to be a staged brawl in front of cameras ensured good publicity.

 

7. Borat reveals almost all (2006)

Sacha Baron Cohen in his mankini as Borat at Cannes film festival

Kazakhstan’s most notorious TV personality, played with comic abandon by Sacha Baron Cohen, showcased his body at the festival in 2006. Sporting just a fluorescent mankini and a moustache, Borat became the talk of Cannes that year.

 

8. Simone Silva goes topless (1954)

Simone Silva

The year after Brigitte Bardot bared almost all at Cannes, Greco-French actress Simone Silva went one step further. During an impromptu photo shoot on nearby Ile Sainte-Marguerite, Silva responded to shouts of “take the top off!” by doing just that, before nestling her ample chest in the hands of rather pleased-looking American actor Robert Mitchum. Cue a violent scrum during which one photographer broke his arm, another his leg.

 

9. 24 Hour Pigeon People (2001)

Steve Coogan
Steve Coogan starred in 24 Hour Party People Credit: OLIVIER LABAN-MATTEI

A prime example of a publicity stunt gone wrong, the cast of Michael Winterbottom’s 24 Hour Party People were evicted from the beach surrounding a private hotel after pummelling each other with stuffed pigeons. Channelling the film’s subjects Happy Mondays, the actors agitated hotel guests with a storm of blood and feathers before they were escorted from the scene. The cast later said it was what Shaun Ryder would have wanted.

 

10. Vincent Gallo vs Roger Ebert (2003)

Roger Ebert
Credit: AP

Ebert labelled Gallo’s 2003 Cannes entry The Brown Bunny, which featured a graphic, unsimulated sex scene between the director and Chlöe Sevigny, "the worst film in the history of the festival", sparking a furious verbal war between the pair.

Brown Bunny
Credit: STEPHEN LOCK

Notable retorts from Ebert included: "I had a colonoscopy once, and they let me watch it on TV. It was more entertaining than The Brown Bunny," and a twist on Churchill’s famous line, "It is true that I am fat, but one day I will be thin, and he will still be the director of The Brown Bunny."

 

11. La Dolce Vita wins big but offends the Vatican (1960)

Federico Fellini’s Palme d’Or-winning film received a rapturous reception from critics but appalled members of the Catholic Church. As a result La Dolce Vita was banned in Spain until the death of General Franco in 1975.

 

12. Hitler calls off Cannes (1939)

The Nazi dictator shut down the festival on September 1 1939, the same day that he invaded Poland and started the Second World War. The Hunchback of Notre Dame was the only film to be screened before Cannes was closed for the next seven years.

 

13. Viridiana causes uproar with the Catholic Church (1961)

Luis Buñuel’s Spanish-Mexican film Viridiana caused a stink in 1961 with its “challenging” scenes depicting the sexual awakening of a young nun. The Catholic Church was predictably unamused, while Spanish dictator Francisco Franco tried unsuccessfully to have the film withdrawn from the competition, and banned its release in Spain. The Cannes jury was more forgiving, awarding the film the Palme d'Or.

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