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The Hollywood Foreign Press Association and The Hollywood Reporter hosted a Cannes reception at the Carlton sponsored by Swarovski. Guests took a break from hectic screening schedules to unwind in the palatial hotel, talk shop and enjoy the view on the Croisette.

For her debut directorial effort Natalie Portman chose to return to Israel, the land of her birth, and ponderous but poetic material in adapting Amos Oz’s 2002 A Tale of Love and Darkness, an unflinching meditation on Israel, its birth and destiny through the events of the author’s own family. Told with the help of an intermittent thoughtful voice over, the story of Oz’s own childhood parallels the birth and difficult infancy of the Jewish state.

More stars, even more starlets, strange films and slivers of things to come made up the theme of the last 24 hours. Mad Max: Fury Road should have screened in competition given the unanimous positive reviews and deafening applause at the star-studded premiere where Charlize Theron wore a show-stopping yellow Dior dress with a six foot train.

Under the benevolent gaze of Ingrid Bergman, this 68th edition’s godmother who beckons from the festival poster and the giant photo on the Palais, Cannes has really gotten underway and with it the parade of stars. After Katherine Deneuve and Julianne Moore who graced the “marches” for the opening, Salma Hayek made her way on the red carpet for Tale of Tales.

A general view of atmosphere during the 68th annual Cannes Film Festival on May 14, 2015 in Cannes, France.

Things are finally on the way in Cannes with Croisette theaters beginning in earnest to churn screenings of actual films (remember, those works that we are actually all here to see among the attending hoopla). Opening night of course belonged to Emmanuelle Bercot’s, La Tête Haute (Standing Tall) and the general consensus is that it was a less than stellar inaugural.

The festival got its kick-off with the opening night premiere of La Tête Haute (Standing Tall), a film by Emmanuelle Bercot that has been criticized as everything from “the perfect story of social injustice”, “a film that flies in the face of conservatism” to “a really bad TV-movie”. It tells the story of a troubled teenager who gets dumped on the judicial system by his mother.

A general view of atmosphere during the 68th annual Cannes Film Festival on May 14, 2015 in Cannes, France.

A general view of atmosphere during the 68th annual Cannes Film Festival on May 13, 2015 in Cannes, France.

Opening night with a female director, french film-makers dominate Critic’s Week and a very diverse jury. The Cannes Film Festival gets underway today on the Riviera.