Chapter 478

Although there is no Bingbing, the 28-year-old Isabelle Adjani is equally dazzling. She is also the most well-known and talked-about actress in Europe during this period.

She is a Cannes Best Actress, a French César Award Best Actress, and an Oscar Best Actress nominee.

When Wei Ming and Li Baotian walked the red carpet, almost no one paid attention. As soon as Adjani came up, the flashlights didn't stop, flashing at her constantly.

At this time, Adjani and Wei Ming's old French friend Jean-Michel Jarre were not dating yet. Her current boyfriend is the photographer Bruno Nuytten, whose status in the industry can't compare to hers, and he looks average. It can be seen that Adjani should have valued his talent.

As soon as Adjani entered the venue, Wei Ming discovered that old men like Mel Gibson, Robert De Niro, and Takeshi Kitano all started staring straight at her.

Compared to them, Wei Ming, who doesn't look sideways, is simply a gentleman. Melinda on the side smiles: "If you want to look, just look. She is indeed quite good-looking."

Wei Ming: "I think it's average, not as good-looking as you."

Comrade Melinda Gaskell also came to Cannes. She claimed to be here for a vacation.

The two were separated by a long distance. It was rare for Wei Ming to come to Europe, and he had to stay for half a month. She certainly wouldn't miss this opportunity. She is already 25, which is the golden age for childbearing.

Melinda arrived in Cannes last night, only three hours later than Wei Ming and the others, and then moved into Wei Ming's room on the pretext that the hotel rooms were full. Bao Ju and Li Baotian could only open one eye and prick up two ears.

The red carpet show continued. After several old men who no one cared about, another beautiful flower attracted the attention of reporters and men: German actress Nastassja Kinski.

Nastassja Kinski's shortlisted work is *Moon in the Gutter*, directed by Jean-Jacques Beineix.

She is a contemporary of Wei Ming, also 22 years old this year. She started modeling at 13, lived with the great director Roman Polanski at 15, and became famous overnight in Polanski's *Tess* at 18, and then began to enter Hollywood, which can be called the European version of Brooke Shields.

It's just a pity that her Polanski can never return to the United States. However, Polanski will soon have a younger girl, Emmanuelle Seigner, born in '66.

When this beauty entered, Wei Ming and Melinda appreciated and commented in a low voice together. The Deputy Director Bao and Li Baotian behind them were anxious because they couldn't understand English. Could these two be flirting in public?

Finally, the film festival chairman, director, and jury members appeared and gave speeches.

Melinda also brought Wei Ming a collection of novels by jury chairman William Styron this time to Cannes, which contains a short story, *The Expedition*, which he created based on his own experience about the Korean War.

When the war broke out, Styron was drafted into the Marine Corps. However, in 1952, he left the military due to eye disease and wrote his experience at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina into a novel.

Through this short story, one can probably understand why the Korean War has such a weak presence in the United States, as well as the attitudes of American soldiers and some ordinary Americans toward this war.

"Suddenly involved in a war, a war that was confusing and vague, a war that couldn't be won without playing some tricks... This is a war without slogans, without praise, without heroes. For all the soldiers who participated in the war, this is really an unbearable thing..."

Wei Ming hoped to peek at his attitude toward China through his works, but after reading it, he still couldn't grasp the point. The novel doesn't have much description of the Volunteers, and it can only be said that no obvious hatred for the Chinese can be seen.

Next, there is also an activity of watching the opening film. The opening film is *Nostalghia* by Soviet director Andrei Tarkovsky, which is also his sixth feature film.

Among the directors who can be called film masters today, the 51-year-old Andrei Tarkovsky is relatively young. Those mentioned in the same breath as him are figures written in film textbooks and history books like Ingmar Bergman, Federico Fellini, Akira Kurosawa, and Stanley Kubrick.

Choosing this film as the opening film also shows the Cannes Film Festival's respect for him.

It's just that Andrei Tarkovsky at this time is not living happily. This *Nostalghia* was filmed with difficulty in Italy.

Because his films were always interfered with by the Soviet Film Bureau—scripts weren't passed, funds were compressed, and after filming, they weren't allowed to be shown, making him physically and mentally exhausted—so this time he simply ran abroad to film.

And the Soviet Film Bureau's countermeasure was to detain his underage son, making them unable to meet. And now they are still obstructing and interfering with this film appearing in Cannes, until Andrei passed away before they could meet.

If you want to say his films are exposing the dark side of the Soviet Union, being obstructed and interfered with like this would be fine, but there isn't. Although it is relatively hypnotic, Wei Ming has also watched all his films completely.

His films are not the type of genre films with obvious plots, but the film aesthetics are indeed impeccable, worthy of the title "Film Poet." His exploration of the boundaries of film art has also profoundly influenced directors such as Lars von Trier, Denis Villeneuve, Alejandro González, and Bi Gan.

Even a great director who has already achieved success in the United States like Martin Scorsese sat meticulously when the film was officially screened, just like a student listening to a lecture.

The *The Last Temptation of Christ* that Martin filmed later was inspired by Old Tarkovsky's *Andrei Rublev*. After Old Tarkovsky died, he also presided over the restoration and re-screening of Old Tarkovsky's films.

Therefore, a film director's status in the industry largely depends on how many subsequent directors your film techniques can influence, especially that kind of great director. So Andrei, Akira Kurosawa, and Wong Kar-wai can always rank at the top in various director rankings. Too many people have benefited from their film techniques.

*Nostalghia* can be considered one of Andrei Tarkovsky's easier-to-understand works and also one of the best works in his career.

The protagonist of the film is named Andrei, and his profession is a poet, which can be considered a projection of the director's own situation.

Because there are English subtitles, it is not difficult for Wei Ming to watch, not to mention it is not his first time watching it.

Old Bao has a greater advantage than Li Baotian because the few dialogues are in Russian, and people of Old Bao's age know a little bit.

Only Li Baotian doesn't know Russian, doesn't know English, and can only watch the screen. But just the screen is also a kind of enjoyment for him because it is too beautiful. The screen has a texture like an oil painting and a poetic beauty.

And it's a coincidence that there are also scenes of using different containers to catch rainwater in this film, but Wei Ming handled it more romantically.

Li Baotian assumes that the judges also don't understand the plot content of *Spring of the Sheep-Herding Class*, so he subconsciously compares the screen of *Spring of the Sheep-Herding Class* and *Nostalghia*.

Wei Ming and those boys from the Film Academy also put enough effort into the aesthetic sense of the screen. *Nostalghia* has a texture like an oil painting, and the screen composition is full of ingenuity. The director is especially good at using mirrors to tell stories.

And Wei Ming prefers to use sunlight. In the story of *Spring of the Sheep-Herding Class*, the sun is his important narrative prop, and there is also an interlude song called *Planting the Sun*.

Thinking and thinking, Li Baotian suddenly lowers his head embarrassedly because the female lead starts to take off her clothes and reveals a snowy white side.

He glances at Bao Tongzhi. He is worthy of being a Deputy Director of the Film Bureau who often reviews foreign films. This scale is completely a small matter in his view.

As for Wei Ming, he is even more calm. Not to mention it's just a movie, even if it were a real person, he had seen and tasted it last night.

Although Li Baotian didn't fully understand this story, when the last scene appeared, seeing the protagonist and the dog sitting on the ground, with the cottage of his hometown behind him placed among the ancient Roman buildings, the reality and illusion made people unable to distinguish. At this moment, he could tangibly feel that "nostalgia" had turned into a physical entity.

After the movie ended, the applause was thunderous and lasted for a long time. Peers and critics who like film art were obviously conquered by Andrei's story and screen. They whispered to each other, exchanging the lingering charm brought by this film, and praised Old Tarkovsky for being worthy of being Old Tarkovsky—every shot must be a masterpiece.

However, as one of the judges, the great Soviet director Sergei Bondarchuk frowned deeply. He came with a mission this time.

After the screening, Wei Ming takes Melinda to formally meet Old Bao and Old Li. Melinda can speak Chinese, so there is no obstacle to communication. She also enthusiastically treats the two Chinese people to a French meal.

Eating people's food makes one's mouth soft, so Bao Ju can't say anything more. Although this might have a not-so-good influence, Ma Xiaowei is a single young man after all, and Melinda was his former lover.

During the meal, they also met Martin Scorsese. This guy suddenly shook hands with Wei Ming enthusiastically as if he had just met him.

"Just learned from a friend that that short film *The Witness* last year was your work. It's truly an indisputable masterpiece. Many Hollywood directors have been inspired by it," Martin says.

He always thought Wei Ming was a pure newcomer who plunged into the film circle. He didn't expect that the very popular short film last year came from his hand.

Before, Martin also felt Wei Ming was too young, and the organizing committee must have favored his achievements and influence in literature to choose his film. Now it seems his new film must have its merits, which makes him even more looking forward to that *Spring of the Sheep-Herding Class*.

Now the screening schedule has been released.

More than 20 main competition unit works will be interspersed and screened in two to three rounds in the next 12 days.

The premiere time of *Spring of the Sheep-Herding Class* is a bit later, so Wei Ming can support Martin's new film first.

But if Martin's *The King of Comedy* and Adjani's *One Deadly Summer* collide, Wei Ming will definitely choose the latter first.

After being busy for a day, Wei Ming and Melinda return to the hotel. Just as they lay down, they were knocked on the door by Li Baotian.

"Bao Ju said that comrades from the French branch of Xinhua News Agency will come to take photos and interview us tomorrow, asking you to pay attention to your image tomorrow."

Wei Ming indicates he understands and certainly won't let Melinda plant strawberries on him.

"I thought there were no media of our own this time," Wei Ming laughs because he hadn't seen news of those few films shortlisted for the three major European film festivals in the country before.

At this time, Bao Ju from next door opens the door and shows his face: "There were before. Procedures like taking photos and interviews were all there, but later they didn't win awards, so there was no big fanfare. Although participation is important, the result is also important."

Besides the comrades from Xinhua News Agency, because two Japanese films were shortlisted for the main competition unit this time, many Japanese media also came. Although they didn't directly interview Wei Ming, they also took photos of Wei Ming walking the red carpet, and they were faxed back on the day of the opening ceremony.

Hong Kong's *Ming Pao* learned that Director Wei Ming's feature film debut *Spring of the Sheep-Herding Class* was shortlisted for the Cannes Film Festival main competition unit through the reports of Japanese media.

Although it was a bit late, Jin Yong still decisively sent reporters to Cannes, determined to get first-hand news.

And in Hong Kong, Gong Xue and Zhou Huimin already knew this news a few days ago. Wei Ming mentioned in his letter that he was going to France for a period of time.

Gong Xue can only wish Ma Xiaowei from afar that he can win an award this time. No matter the size of the award, it is a major breakthrough for Chinese feature films.

And Zhou Huimin's courage is a bit greater. She is not sure if Wei Ming can detour to Hong Kong to see her after returning from France. After all, they mainlanders have to listen to the organization's arrangements for many things.