By Melanie Williams | May 2015
At the moment, the 68th Cannes International Film Festival is abuzz with a supposed selfie ban, the feminist activism of Women in Motion and #seehernow, outrage at heelgate, boos for Gus Van Sant’s The Sea of Trees, plaudits for Asif Kapadia’s Amy Winehouse documentary, and general indifference towards Woody Allen’s latest, Irrational Man. Meanwhile Cate, Aishwarya, Sienna, Lupita, Salma and a host of other female stars have all been mooted as 2015’s queens of the Croisette. But back in 1965, the undisputed woman of the moment was a quirky-looking young Liverpudlian, star of the Cannes grand prix winning film, The Knack…and how to get it: Rita Tushingham.
Despite her long and distinguished subsequent acting career, Tushingham’s star image remains inextricably linked to its decade of origin, the 1960s. In that respect she has a lot in common with Julie Christie, another female star who triumphed in 1965 (in her Oscar-winning role in Darling) and whose persona resonates with all that the era is seen to represent. But if Christie was the ‘honey glow girl’ of the sixties, then Continue reading