Cannes Do

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A Riviera sunset, a starlit guest list, the rainbow-hued magic of V.F.'s party maestros— the stage was set at the Hôtel du Cap, Eden-Roc, for an evening of divinely Gallic decadence. Jonathan Becker and Richard Young caught the Cannes Film Festival’s most glamorous act

Under an ever changing sky and surrounded by an enchanted forest at the Hotel du Cap, Eden-Roc, in Cap d'Antibes, France, Vanity Fair threw the hot party of the 2001 Cannes Film Festival. The same team that creates V.F.'s annual Oscar party in Los Angeles flew in from all over to work its magic on the French Riviera and transformed an already breathtaking location into a jaw-dropping scene straight out of a Noel Coward play. Lighting maestro Patrick Woodroffe filled the air with a rainbow of colors, much to the delight of the dinner guests, including Liv Tyler, Ethan Hawke, Kirk Kerkorian, June and Helmut Newton, Natasha Richardson, Bryan Lourd, Julia Ormond, Liv Ullman, Diane Von Furstenberg, Dominick Dunne, and the boys from The Lord of the Rings, the most talked-about film of the festival (even though only 25 minutes was shown). The poolside patio was the setting after dinner, where the diners were joined by an equally glamorous group, among them Andie MacDowell, Jackie Chan, and Ethan Coen. Barry Diller changed into shorts as only a billionaire can—on his sailboat, moored off the coast—and as the evening wore on, the guests began tossing glowing bubble lights, spread around the pool like a hallucinogen-induced Easter-egg hunt, into the sea while they danced, drank, mingled, and smoked. This is France, after all.

KRISTA SMITH