It is Cannes' glitziest party, and last night a host of stars and supermodels paid $100,000 a table to be at Dame Elizabeth Taylor's charity ball. But beyond the cordon thrown around the celebrities a frightening wave of violence has robbed the festival of much of its glamour.
Backstreet muggings, glassings and indecent assaults have darkened an atmosphere already soured by an epidemic of thefts from hotel rooms. Even the beautiful Croisette along the beach, where the main parties are held, has not been immune - 10 people were hurt when riot police broke up a brawl with gatecrashers trying to get into the bash the pop group All Saints threw for their film Honest.
There were nasty scenes too outside the Palais du Cinema, where the main competition films are screened, as angry ticket-holders, told the cinema was full, tried to scale the barriers to see the Lars Von Trier film Dancer in the Dark.
Even tempers among the critics are frayed, with punches thrown and shirts ripped in the melee to get into Ang Lee's new film, ironically a martial arts flick.
But there is nothing comic about what has been happening on the streets. Nikki Parker, head of publicity for Denmead Marketing, was grabbed in her hotel room by an intruder wearing a stocking over his face. "I swear it has got out of hand this year," she said. "I do not feel safe anymore. Something has to be done."
British journalist Charlotte Edwards was wrestled to the ground in the lobby of her hotel while a porter stood by, and film buyer Jess Ticks was dragged along a main shopping street in daylight by a thief who ripped her bag from her back. So many Americans have been done over that their embassy has set up a temporary consulate in the festival's American pavilion. "It is just one tale of woe after another," the consul said.
Cannes veteran Tivi Magnusson had a bottle smashed over his head as he chatted outside the Petit Majestic, one of the festival's more convivial watering holes. "I have been coming here for 29 years but I never thought anything like this would happen to me." The same night another festival-goer was headbutted by a biker nearby.
Local police blame an influx of gangs of muggers from Marseille for most of the trouble, and say extra officers and members of the French CRS riot police are being drafted in.
Security was noticeably tight yesterday near Palm Beach hotel in preparation for Elizabeth Taylor's Cinema Against Aids party, organised with Elton John. Gregory Peck, Prince Albert of Monaco, Jeremy Irons, Catherine Deneuve, and directors John Waters and Jonathan Demme were all expected to attend. Elizabeth Hurley and Kenneth Branagh headed the British contingent.
Many blame the increase in street crime this year on Cannes mayor Maurice Delauney's ban on beach parties going on longer than 12.30am. With thousands of thirsty people milling around after midnight looking for parties to take them into the wee small hours, revellers are more vulnerable.
