Cannes Opens With a Little French Mischief

Heart Of Hollywood Team
2 days ago
2 min read

By Sandy Rodriguez,

Cannes is kicking off its 79th edition with a movie that sounds tailor-made for people who like their romantic films served with a side of fraud, fog, and truly fabulous costumes. Pierre Salvadori’s La Vénus électrique will open the festival on May 12, 2026, and if the premise is any indication, the Croisette is in for a delightfully fun, mischievous start.

Set in Paris in 1928, the film follows Antoine Balestro, a painter whose creative life has stalled after the death of his wife. A drunken attempt to reach the afterlife accidentally pulls in Suzanne, a carnival worker with a talent for hustling. What begins as a bit of a scam quickly turns into a bittersweet romantic entanglement.

Salvadori has built a career on comedies that move fast, are somewhat melancholy, and never stay in one emotional lane for too long. According to the festival announcement, La Vénus électrique is his 11th feature in 34 years, and his first period fable. That said, it still leans on his recurring obsessions, such as ambiguity and the lies people tell.

Salvadori considers classic Hollywood comedy as a model, and the influences are easy to pinpoint. There's Lubitsch-style elegance, Wilder-level wit, and that deliciously controlled kind of confusion where everyone is lying but somehow getting closer to the truth.

The cast is extraordinary. Pio Marmaï leads the film as the blocked painter, reuniting with Salvadori for a fourth collaboration, while Anaïs Demoustier plays Suzanne, the sharp, resourceful imposter who keeps the story moving. Gilles Lellouche, Vimala Pons, and Gustave Kervern round things out, giving the movie a blend of emotion and comedy.

That’s part of the appeal here: this isn’t being framed as a solemn prestige opening, but as a warm, playful crowd-pleaser. The announcement emphasizes the film’s burlesque romantic-comedy spirit, and also notes that it be screened in theaters across France the same day, which gives the premiere an old-school, communal movie-night feel.

HEART OF HOLLYWOOD MAGAZINE

Cannes Opens With a Little French Mischief

LA VÉNUS ÉLECTRIQUE

Read more about the film opening the iconic Festival de Cannes

Recent Posts