Smut at the Cannes film festival

It didn't take too long for the first mini scandal at the Croisette...

Today at the director's fortnight, which has a reputation for its edgier's selection, a film was shown portraying a man enjoying the romantic attention of his horses, with a short clip of a horse bursting in the man's musky treasure (nice). It's based on a true story apparently and it's called Zoo!

Truth is, despite its somehow arty and stuffy image, gore and smut have been longtime companions of the festival.

And not being one to shy away from those, I have my fair share of memories of both while attending the festival. The great thing is, as an audience there, you see films before anyone else, so no risk of the critics spoiling the fun for you!

My favorites moments over the years include the worldwide premiere of The idiots by Lars Von Trier, about a bunch of, well, idiots!, who get together and act like mentally retarded... It was all very boring and mildly irritating in a way only the Danes can be (I should know, I lived with one for 5 years) until they started an impromptu and very graphic orgy that had the very grand audience of the Grand Auditorium Lumiere gasping for air!

Here is the trailer in Danish with no subtitles (I am sure we're not missing much)




Also how can I ever forget watching on the biggest screen in the world the gold dust sprinkled sodomy scene between Ewan McGregor and Christian Bale in Velvet Goldmine (blink and you'll miss it on that clip)




But my best memory was catching Bent on a 8am screening, the story of the persecution of the gays by the nazis. There was a noisy bunch of schoolchildren in the audience led by their well meaning teacher who really should have made more research on the film she was taking them to see. The opening scene scene shut them up completely:

Mick jagger in drag singing "The streets of Berlin" in some kind of louche derelict cabaret/bomb site, followed by a scene with Clive Owen (when he was still hot) being brutally taken from behind by some hunky aryan soldier. Who said History was no fun? That clip does not show that second part sadly, but you get the idea.