Women shine in the spotlight as Cannes Film Festival opens

Actress Catherine Deneuve. Bertrand Langlois / AFP Photo

The Cannes Film Festival ­eschewed its usual blockbuster kick-off yesterday, opening with a gritty French film that marks only the second time a female director has won the coveted first slot.

Normally reserved for flashy hits such as Moulin Rouge or The Fifth Element, the opening selection this year was Standing Tall, starring French icon ­Catherine Deneuve.

Director Emmanuelle Bercot, little known outside her native France, is the first woman to open the world's most famous film festival since Diane Kurys in 1987 for her film A Man in Love.

The pace will pick up quickly over the coming 11 days, with a number of high-octane extravaganzas, including Mad Max: Fury Road starring Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron, Chinese film The Assassin and ­Yakuza Apocalypse from Japan.

The festival has come under fire in recent years for failing to give much representation to women, and this year’s top Palme d’Or competition again features only two female ­directors – the same as last year – out of 19 selections.

They are French ­actresses- turned-directors Valerie Donzelli and Maïwenn, part of a particularly strong showing for France, which has five films up for the Palme.

But women appear to be more central to other parts of the line-up this year.

Legendary director Agnes Varda – who made her name during the French New Wave of the 1960s – will become the first woman to be awarded an ­honorary Palme d’Or.

Oscar winner Natalie Portman is presenting a special screening of her directorial debut, A Tale of Love and Darkness.

The jury this year is led by US indie favourites Joel and Ethan Coen, who won the Palme in 1991 for Barton Fink and the runner-up Grand Prix for Inside Llewyn Davis two years ago.

They will judge a typically eclectic selection that includes Cate Blanchett in Carol, another female-centred film telling the story of a love affair between two women, played by ­Blanchett and Rooney Mara.

"Midrange films with women at the centre are tricky to finance," Blanchett told Vanity Fair recently. "There are a lot of people labouring under the misapprehension that people don't want to see them, which isn't true."