If the filmmaker Agnès Varda we had not parted on the beginning of the year, it would be Alain Delon who would have had the honor to lend his image to the 72nd edition of the Cannes film Festival. This is what has just revealed The Sunday paper with the unveiling of the displays in contemplation of the competition, highlighting the beauty, half-angel half-devil of the actor in his first triumph film, Full Sun by René Clément in 1960.

This photo, taken from one of the last scenes of the film based on the novel by Patricia Highsmith Mr. Ripley , had been chosen in a first time by the graphic designer Flore Maquin, to become the symbol of the quinzaine in cannes.

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Despite the reticence of Alain Delon, the actor could climb up the class the famous steps, next Sunday, to receive a supreme award, a palme d’honneur for his entire career. Thierry Frémaux, who has managed to convince the Samurai, it was recognized that the latter had decided to come in order to “celebrate the great directors with whom he worked”.

With Cannes, Delon this is a little “I love you, moi non plus”. It comes on the côte d’azur as early as 1957 , at the invitation of his friend Jean-Claude Brialy. It will have to wait until the year 1961, it can pay already the status of an unquestionable star of the film, to climb the steps of the palace of the festival to defend What a Joy to Live by René Clément.

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In the years that followed, he returned to the Croisette by six times. The list of films, the pretext of his presence leaves no impress: Eclipse by Michelangelo Antonioni in 1962, which received the jury Prize; The Leopard of Luchino Visconti which won the Palme d’or in 1963. Delon is at the time a kind of talisman for the filmmakers the most talented.

In 1976, with the dual capacity of producer and leading role of Mr. Klei n , Alain Delon and takes very poorly to the tone of the critics in cannes, who do not welcome his film with a lot of enthusiasm. The samurai will put the feet on the Croisette… until 1990.

today, time, and wisdom, all of that seems forgotten. The actor will receive a Palm of a well-deserved honor and, as a nice contrast, it is the restoration of Mr. Klein will be projected to show the talent of our greatest actors.

Full Sun by René Clément, based on the novel The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith, shot from August to October 1959, released in 1960, with Alain Delon, Marie Laforêt, Maurice Ronet, Elvire Popesco…

The Samurai by Jean-Pierre Melville, 1967, adapted from the novel The Ronin of Goan McLeod, with Alain Delon, François Périer, Nathalie Delon, Cathy Rosier, Michel Boisrond….