Cannes Film Festival: Dad-bods, stiletto-gate and a failed selfie ban

Some highlights and lowlights from the world’s premier film fest on the French Riviera.

Matthew McConaughey and Ken Watanabe in Sea of Trees. Cannes Film Festival

Several films got the crowds blubbering at this year's Cannes Film Festival, especially Amy, a documentary about the tragically short life of singer Amy Winehouse, and the moving love affair at the heart of Carol starring Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara. Plenty of soggy eyes also emerged from My Mother, about a female director's struggles with love and family.

A generous gut proved to be a hit with the critics, with Colin Farrell, Joaquin Phoenix and France’s larger-than-life Gérard Depardieu sporting flabby “dad-bods” in their well-received films, while movies starring more toned stars, such as Matthew McConaughey and French heartthrob Jérémie Elkaïm, took a mauling in the press.

A social-media storm erupted after reports that some women had been turned away from the red carpet for not wearing high heels. Actress Emily Blunt called it "very disappointing". Her director, Denis Villeneuve, and co-stars Benicio Del Toro and Josh Brolin vowed to wear heels to the premiere of their film Sicario – though, sadly, they turned up in flats in the end.

As well as delivering an iconic scene conducting a field of cows in competition entry Youth, ­Michael Caine also stole the show with hilarious comments at the press conference during his first trip to Cannes since ­Alfie was shown here in 1962.

"Alfie won a prize and I didn't so I never came back. I'm not going all that way for nothing," he said. Asked about playing roles at the age of 82, he deadpanned: "The only alternative to playing elderly people is playing dead people. So I'm quite smart, I picked elderly people."

The biggest crowds of the week were seen at the midnight showing of Love, a hyper-sexual 3-D film, which featured dozens of ­ultra-explicit scenes and some wince-inducing close-ups in director Gaspar Noé's tale. Sadly, critics said the tears were mostly the result of boredom, not controversy.

The seemingly unstoppable "McConaissance" – the astonishing transformation of McConaughey from romcom jock to Oscar-winning thespian – hit its first obstacle when his new film The Sea of Trees received loud boos and open derision. The story of a man wandering in a Japanese forest where people commit suicide received a slew of one-star reviews.

A slightly ashen-looking McConaughey tried to put on a brave face, offering the grammatically questionable: “Anyone has as much right to boo as to they do to ovate.”

Several stars defied festival director Thierry Frémaux's ban on "ridiculous and grotesque" selfies. Tom Hardy, pushing his action extravaganza Mad Max: Fury Road, posed on the red carpet for selfies with fans. Salma Hayek also snapped herself during a press conference for Tale of Tales. Lots of other stars whipped out their smartphones, forcing Frémaux to pretend he had never called for a ban in the first place.

• The Cannes Film Festival will wrap up on Sunday night /early Monday morning UAE time. For coverage of the Palme d’Or winner, read Tuesday’s edition of Arts&Life.