The Cannes Film Festival has become known for its lengthy standing ovations.  This has become a hot topic for discussion and debate.  It is important to understand the reasons behind this trend.  It is a bit of a mixed bag.  It can be seen as a sign of enthusiasm and support for the films.  However, it can also be viewed as a sign of desperation and a decline in the quality of the films being shown.

The festival has a few tricks up its sleeve to encourage these prolonged applauses.  The in-house production crew projects the faces of the director and actors on the big screen.  This encourages the audience to clap and cheer.  The press also plays a role in promoting these displays.  They time the length of the ovations and report on them.  This can make the ovations seem more important than they really are.

Sometimes, these ovations can lead to lasting acclaim for the films.  However, more often than not, they are just a mix of good manners and a bit of madness.  The ovations can be a sign of the audience's enthusiasm.  They can also be a sign of the audience's desire to be part of the celebration.  The Cannes boss has even said that encouraging ovations is part of his job.  He wants to make the screening a celebration and the audience's participation makes it better.

The Venice Film Festival has also started to adopt this trend.  They have started to give long ovations to films with big stars.  This has turned the festival into a pipeline for the American awards season.  The Berlin Film Festival has not yet adopted this trend.  They still have a sense of critical reserve.  However, it is possible that they will change in the future.

The Cannes Film Festival used to have a tradition of passionate disavowal by booing.  This has evaporated in the past decade.  Now, public mockery is all but muzzled.  Self-censorship is in style in the seats at the Lumière Theatre.  The problem with all of this is that the excessive rah-rah is a mask for diminishment.  A healthy, vital, dynamic art form doesn't overcompensate.  But once-dominant modes of expression that have become marginalized can't help but develop cringeworthy coping mechanisms.

This is not just a problem with film festivals.  It can be seen in other forms of art as well.  Think of the automatic on-your-feet laurels at stage-play curtain calls.  The rote multiple encores at opera performances.  The over-the-top reviews of just about any new ballet production.  The mindless blurbing of literary novels.  The common theme is that as popular relevance wanes, hype must be contrived in the hope of forestalling death.

Well-meaning Cannes audiences may believe they’re rousing themselves and each other in support of a creative community that benefits from mass rapture.  Yet all those bravos only drown out a reality that might better be greeted — at least at the less-than-transcendent premiere showcases — with more measured restraint.  Or even just some reflective silence.

The Cannes Clapping Conundrum

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