French filmmaker Pierre Salvadori will open the 79th edition of Cannes with his 11th feature film — a period piece set in 1928’s Paris that is actually based on an original idea by Cannes vets Rebecca Zlotowski and Robin Campillo. The starry cast of La Vénus électrique includes Pio Marmaï, Anaïs Demoustier, Gilles Lellouche, Vimala Pons, Gustave Kervern and Madeleine Baudot in a tale about a grieving painter suffering from creative paralysis after his wife’s death regains his inspiration through a series of staged séances orchestrated by a carnival worker posing as a psychic, only for their deception to grow complicated as she falls in love with him, exploring themes of grief, artistic rebirth, and the blurred line between illusion and emotional truth.
Coined as a burlesque romantic comedy, Salvadori co-wrote with Benjamin Charbit and Benoît Graffin. Last year Thierry Frémaux programmed One Day by Amélie Bonnin. The fest begins May 12th.
