It's in the Cannes

>> Lars von Trier disses Bjoerk, Denys Arcand finds Liv Tyler too expensive and John Waters gets demented

by Joanne Latimer

Lars von Trier didn't try to snow the press. Rumours had leaked about bad blood on the set of his latest film, Dancer in the Dark. Bjoerk, his star, up-ended production of the $15-million musical; apparently, the Icelandic diva tore a hole in his shirt with her teeth and stormed off set for three or four days at a time.

After the screening of Dancer, von Trier and his co-star Catherine Deneuve were at the press conference--sans Bjoerk.

"It was terrible," confessed von Trier, about the filming. "Bjoerk is not an actress. She isn't acting in this film, she's feeling things. It's hard. For her, it was like being a dying person everyday. It has been rewarding but painful. I'm very fond of her and I thank her."

So that's the party line--the Bjoerk position. Deneuve repeated it, then ad libbed to distract the crowd from the readiness of their answers.

"It would be perverse, here today, to give so much importance to the situation on set, to the tension and the crying," said Deneuve, who chain-smoked in her Chanel suit. "Bjoerk is a wonderful person, but she can't act. She can just, uh, she couldn't recover from one day to the next."

No wonder. Dancer in the Dark is a tearjerker and Bjoerk is astounding as a Czech immigrant working in an American tool factory. While rehearsing for a small-town production of The Sound of Music, she daydreams about performing in a Hollywood musical.

Von Trier had the balls to shoot the dreamy dance numbers and they're fabulous--fabulous enough to win the Palm d'Or. He nabbed the coveted award, as did Bjoerk for best actress.

A Montreal star is born

Closing the festival on Sunday night was a screening of Denys Arcand's latest English-language film, Stardom. The film is a hysterical satire on beauty and fame with Arcand's subject, Tina, becoming a cliché of a supermodel. Men prostrate themselves for her company and she seems content to leave events largely unexamined. Tubby old Dan Aykroyd plays one of Tina's boyfriends, as does Frank Langella. They're the epitome of midlife crises cases.

Arcand was flabbergasted at how hard it was to cast a beautiful young woman who can act. "You have Cameron Diaz at $17 million, then you have Charlize Theron and Nathalie Portman at $10 million, then Liv Tyler at $1 million," said Arcand. "I couldn't afford Liv Tyler."

Large Cannes photos by Joanne Latimer

Instead, he cast a virtual unknown from Montreal. Her name is Jessica Paré and she was the toast of Cannes on closing night. Her real life has been running in parallel with her character's, but Jessica is unspoiled by all the attention. She's a real gem.

"Most of my friends are great about it," said Jessica, wearing a pink dress, not of her choosing. "But some are jealous. I have a completely different life now, with my own apartment and income."