Jodie Foster at home again in Cannes
It could be because her experience at the festival spans 45 years when she was 13 and in “Taxi Driver.”
CANNES, FRANCE >> “I got one thing to say before I sit down,” said Spike Lee during the Cannes Film Festival opening ceremony. “I wish I could speak French like Jodie Foster!”
In the first two days of Cannes, one thing everyone can agree on is that Jodie Foster really speaks terrific French. Foster was awarded an honorary Palme d’Or for lifetime achievement. The award was presented to her by Lee and South Korean director Bong Joon Ho. Foster, who walked the red carpet with her wife, Alexandra Hedison, regaled the festival audience with her fluent French.
“During this year of transition, the cinema has been my lifeline,” Foster said.
If Foster, 58, has seemed at home in Cannes, it could be because her experience at the festival spans 45 years. Foster first came to Cannes with “Taxi Driver” in 1976. She was just 13 at the time, a sunny, freckled face in the middle of a media storm over the violence in Martin Scorsese’s film.
“Taxi Driver” still won the Palme d’Or, even though the then-jury president, playwright Tennessee Williams, condemned the film.
“Watching violence on the screen is a brutalizing experience for the spectator,” Williams said.
Black-and-white photos from the time capture Foster smiling next to Robert De Niro and Scorsese. Even then, Foster waved off translators and answered questions at the film’s press conference in French.
Foster attended a French prep school in Los Angeles and her family lived for a time in France.