Celebrities attend “Grace of Monaco” after party

In a purpose-built structure at the eastern-most tip of Cannes’ famous Boulevard de la Croisette, the great and the good of the French film industry gathered to sip vodka cocktails and dance into evening.

Seemingly oblivious to the raft of scathing reviews their movie has attracted since opening the 67th Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday night, the cast and crew threw themselves with abandon into the serious business of partying.

In keeping with Cannes’ reputation for excess, party organisers had constructed a replica of the famous Studio 5 in Hollywood where Grace Kelly filmed some of her best known roles. Faux sets inside the venue included fruit stalls under bright umbrellas, a garden terrace with fresh roses and yellow trellises, and a smart, black vintage convertible, beside which guests were photographed.

Gendarmes, wearing kepi hats and capes, stood guard at the entrance, while inside playing in a loop were scenes from Grace Kelly’s life, including grainy footage of her marriage to Prince Rainier of Monaco.

Stars of the film, Nicole Kidman and Tim Roth were given a standing ovation as they entered the room, before being whisked to a VIP area which played host throughout the evening to the famous likes of Willem Dafoe, Jane Campion, Sophia Coppola and Amelie actress, Audrey Tatou.

Despite the best efforts by the DJ to play only undanceable music, the dance floor was packed with revellers until the small hours of the morning, most of them fuelled by the free-flowing cocktails and champagne.

True to French form, most of the action happened on the open-air terrace, which gave onto the beach and offered views across the bay to the twinkling lights of Antibes. Under the stars and free to smoke to their heart’s content, partygoers turned in a celebratory effort to make the House of Grimaldi proud.

Meanwhile, influential Hollywood-insider website, deadline.com, dared to break from the pack of critics baying for the blood of ‘Grace’ director, Olivier Dahan, describing the film as eminently watchable.

“Critics seemed to be gunning for (Grace) as soon as it was announced for the high-profile opening-night slot of the 67th Cannes Film Festival, which seems a little unfair,” Deadline’s correspondent in Cannes wrote. “In addition to a terrific and credible turn from Nicole Kidman as Grace Kelly, Dahan’s portrait of a movie star-turned-princess caught up in a lifestyle change for which she was ill-prepared and now full of self-doubt is a good-looking film that doesn’t purport to be anything other than a piece of fiction based on real events.”

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