CANNES (Reuters) – An avenging Venus settling the psychological and sexual score is the star of acclaimed director Roman Polanski’s “La Venus a la Fourrure” (“Venus in Fur”), one of the Cannes film festival’s two final movies in main competition to premiere on Saturday.

The French-Polish director is one of 20 vying for the top Palme d’Or prize to be handed out at the festival on Sunday by a jury led by Steven Spielberg. Polanski won the prize in 2002 for “The Pianist”, his semi-autobiographical drama about the Warsaw Ghetto, for which he also won an Oscar for best director.

CANNES (Reuters) – America’s immigration debate finds echos in a period drama that premiered at the Cannes film festival on Friday about a Polish woman who arrives at Ellis Island and fights to survive in 1920s New York.

“The Immigrant” features French Oscar winner Marion Cotillard as the immigrant Ewa, speaking English and Polish in the film, with Joaquin Phoenix and Jeremy Renner as the two men with whom she becomes entangled as she is forced into prostitution.

CANNES, May 24 (Reuters) – A white poodle with cataracts
stole the limelight from Hollywood star Michael Douglas by
winning the Palm Dog award during the Cannes film festival on
Friday.

Critics at the prestigious festival on the Mediterranean
coast may have hailed Douglas for his performance as Liberace in
Steven Soderbergh’s “Behind the Candelabra”, but it was the
flamboyant pianist’s blind “Baby Boy” who walked away with a
prize.

CANNES (Reuters) – An intimate love story between two young women received rave reviews from critics at the Cannes film festival despite explicit lesbian sex scenes that could limit the film’s distribution.

“La Vie d’Adele – Chapitre 1 & 2″ (“Blue is the Warmest Color”) is a poignant tale of love and sexuality centered on 15-year-old Adele, in a breakout performance by Adele Exarchopoulos, and her lover Emma (Lea Seydoux), set to premiere on Thursday evening.

CANNES, May 22 (Reuters) – Walking the red carpet of the
world’s most famous film showcase is a test of nerves for
celebrities, not helped by wind, rain and the chaos of hundreds
of photographers shouting their names.

From choosing the perfect dress and hairdo, to trying not to
trip on the famous red steps, the pressure is on for movie stars
and glitterati at the 12-day Cannes film festival on the swanky
French Riviera which wraps up on May 26.

CANNES, May 21 (Reuters) – Paolo Sorrentino’s “The Great
Beauty,” a nostalgic, melancholic ode to the eternal city Rome,
is one of several films that touch on the unraveling of
contemporary Italy in official selection at the Cannes film
festival this year.

Also competing for the prestigious Palme d’Or award to be
handed out on May 26 is “Un Chateau en Italie” (“A Castle in
Italy”) by Franco-Italian director Valeria Bruni Tedeschi about
the demise of an aristocratic family.

CANNES (Reuters) – Japanese director Takashi Miike got the final week of the Cannes film festival off to an explosive start on Monday, with big budget cop thriller “Shield of Straw” a sharp contrast to the more intense, intimate movies screened so far.

Typically for Cannes, where critical passions run high, both exuberant cheers and boos rang out after an advance press screening of “Wara No Tate” (“Shield of Straw”), one of 20 entries vying for the top Palme d’Or prize awarded on Sunday.

CANNES, May 19 (Reuters) – Folk music, Greenwich Village and
a quick-footed cat star in the new Coen brothers movie at the
Cannes film festival on Sunday, kicking off the first of five
U.S. entries with its engaging misadventures of a struggling
singer.

“Inside Llewyn Davis” by directing duo Ethan and Joel Coen
is a delightful tale about the early 1960s folk music scene, a
tribute to artists living hand to mouth, and an ode to New York
all at once.

CANNES, May 18 (Reuters) – A film about baby-switching by
Japan’s Kore-eda Hirokazu that ponders nature versus nurture
premiered at the Cannes film festival on Saturday, joining an
Iranian challenger as contenders for the top prize.

“Soshite Chichi Ni Naru” (“Like Father, Like Son”) is one of
two Japanese films out of the international roster of 20 vying
to take home the Palme d’Or prize on May 26 from the world’s
largest film festival being held on the French Riviera.

CANNES, May 17 (Reuters) – Oscar-winning Iranian director
Asghar Farhadi premiered his latest tightly wound family drama
at Cannes on Friday, confirming critics’ advance buzz it would
prove a contender for the film festival’s top prize.

The prestigious festival on the French Riviera – where the
sun finally emerged on day three – is looking to spot its Palme
d’Or winner among the 20 entries in the main competition and
early reviews were enthusiastic for “Le Passe” (“The Past”).