Cannes: From Class to Crass

The name “Cannes” once conjured up images of Hollywood glamor and French sophistication, but no more. The film festival has turned into a marathon of binge drinking and sleazy sex, attended by high-heeled, fake-tanned partiers who are “not interested in the films, only the party scene,” one tells the Daily Mail. “During the festival it’s all sex, sex, sex,” frowns a local.

Cannes fêtes, once hosted by movie studios, are now thrown by liquor brands. Instead of drawing A-list celebrities—who nowadays leave Cannes as fast as they can—the parties are places where scantily clad women can be found stripping or seducing rich men. “When I used to attend the festival it was so chic and glamorous,” says one veteran. “Now it seems to be full of riff-raff.” (More Jay-ZTV stories.)