Léa Seydoux, once again, rules the Cannes

 France, May 25:  The Cannes Film Festival, yet again, belongs to Léa Seydoux.

The French actress has already shared in a Palme d'Or at the festival, in 2013 for "Blue Is the Warmest Color," which made her and Adèle Exarchopoulos the first actors to ever win Cannes' top prize, which they shared with director Abdellatif Kechiche.

Last year, she had four films at the festival, but missed all of them because she tested positive for COVID-19. But this year, Seydoux gives two of the best performance of her career in a pair of films unveiled at Cannes: Mia Hansen-Love's "One Fine Morning" and David Cronenberg's "Crimes of the Future." Together, they have only reinforced the view that Seydoux is the premier French actress of her generation.

On a recent afternoon a few blocks from Cannes' Palais des Festivals, Seydoux greeted a reporter cheerfully. How was she? "Great!" she answered. "Should I not be great?"

The 36-year-old Seydoux has already made a major mark in Hollywood, most notably by taking the once stereotypical role of "Bond Girl" and stretching the character — a "Bond Woman" she redefined — across several films, adding a new dimension of depth to the franchise. Seydoux was so good that even James Bond wanted to settle down.

But it's especially clear at this year's Cannes that Hollywood was only one stop of many in the fast-evolving, exceptionally varied career of Seydoux, who has managed to be one of Europe's most famous faces while still exuding a mysterious melancholy on screen. She's ubiquitous and elusive at the same time.

"I carry a sadness," Seydoux says, tracing it to a shy childhood. "Cinema for me is something playful. It's a real consolation because, in a way, I transformed my sadness into an object of beauty. Or I tried to, anyway. It's not like it works every time."

"If I didn't have cinema, I would have been very sad," she adds. "That's why I work all the time. It's a way to be connected." AP