Still Cannes do…

Greetings from the Croisette in Cannes. I have swapped my River Thames studio for a berth on a yacht moored opposite the major casino in Cannes, a venue which doubles as a screening amphitheatre during the annual film festival.

As I look out over the casino and the steps where Woody Allen caused the usual superstar uproar for the premiere of his new film, You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger, I keep thinking that the French got it right when they coined the aphorism that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Take the media circus, for example. The media here try to bemoan the lack of controversy just about every year. A few years ago, there was a minor uproar over the movie Nine Songs, but that was no more decadent than many a movie. Two years ago, the film Antichrist featured some very unpleasant physical and psychological violence, and was the subject of a few stories. Unpleasant though I found the experience of watching it, I have to say I found the reaction to the violence somewhat artificial.

What people wanted then, as they do no, was controversy. They went looking for it, and were then mildly disappointed that the world didn't fall apart once they believed they had found it. The Cannes film festival is about many things, but it is always, always about sensation-seeking – and there's never really a sensation to find. Plus Ca Change, Plus C'est La Meme Chose.

This is my third festival as I pursue the moving target of getting a movie made. I am now told that the average time between publishing a book and then finding finance for it is three years – so I have another 12 months ahead of running up the down escalator. Regular readers will know of the project I'm alluding to.

I am a registered delegate at this festival, for the first time. Now this does make a couple of minor differences to the experience of being here. First, I have attended a few screenings. The Ridley Scott offering, Robin Hood featuring Russell Crowe, opened the festival. It is adequate but forgettable.

I've also attended a promotional screening organised by the development producers of my own project. What this means is the screening of a short promotional film, not the screening of a full-length film as a piece of special promotion. I went to see 10 minutes of Iron Clad, a clever but physically brutal tale of medieval warfare in England. My producers had organised the music, which was barely audible at times over the sound of human screams and clashing metal. Still, that's entertainment, I suppose.

The second difference I've noticed as a registered delegate is an influx of a new and amusing variety of junk mail. I've been graciously invited to invest in Ukrainian kitchen-sink dramas, to acquire the rights of a musical set in Macedonia, and to participate in the shooting of a nature documentary in Greenland.

You may not be surprised to know that I managed to resist these temptations, but it was quite fun to get the offers.

I tend to see the festival attendance numbers and the lavishness of the parties as an indicator of how well off people feel themselves to be.

This is a lagging economic indicator, in that folk need to have made the money or feel certain they are going to acquire some very soon before they will spend, spend, spend. Well, I have to say that despite the wobbles in the markets, there's a feeling of well being that falls little short of smugness here.

A year ago, there was a noticeable lull in activity and confidence. That's all gone now, replaced by the extreme brashness of the cocktail party poop deck.

So things have come around again. The more things change, etc. But here's a real difference I predict for next year's festival – the euro will have dropped in value by at least 20 per cent (if it's still with us in the same form, that is). So Cannes, overpriced as everything is in this city, will be considerably cheaper for sterling- and especially dollar-denominated purchasers.

- The writer is a journalist, author and commentator on international business affairs

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