Hotel paradiso

The dirty little secret of the Cannes Film Festival is that its dirty.

The dirty little secret of the Cannes Film Festival is that its dirty. Despite the glamour of each nights red carpet arrivals,a certain grubbiness inevitably sets in during the 11-day festival,where thousands of people jam the towns main thoroughfare,the Croisette,amid the noise and heat,pushing and shoving for access to the most coveted screenings.

No wonder a small group of filmmakers and executives insist on finding cool and quiet respite at the Hotel du Cap Eden-Roc in Cap dAntibes,a half-hours drive from Cannes. Perched serenely amid cedar trees,palms and Aleppo pines,with a manicured lawn sloping toward the Mediterranean,this cathedral to luxury plays host every year to those with the tasteand meansto appreciate its rarefied pleasures,from the intimate bar decorated in Delft blue,white and sunflower yellow,to impeccably discreet service.

Never mind that the economic downturn led one wag recently to dub the redoubt Hotel du Capped,referring to the new spending limits imposed by once profligate studios. The hotels historically cash-only Eden Roc Restaurant has begun accepting credit cards too. A visit to the hotel found it humming along quietly to the thwack of tennis balls being hit on its clay courts.

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are regulars at the Hotel du Cap. So are George Clooney,Nicole Kidman and dozens of other stars who are alphabetically listed on the hotels website. This is where Orson Welles is said to have secured financing for his 1955 film,Othello,and where,in 1985,Raul Julia serenaded guests with opera arias after the premiere of Kiss of the Spider Woman.

This is the centre of the world right now, said Paul Schwartzman,an agent for Hong Kong filmmaker Wong Kar-Wai and Lars von Triers production company,Zentropa von Trier is another Hotel du Cap regular.

Moments later,a flotilla of waiters appeared to serve the Platonic ideal of a Sunday lunch: house-smoked salmon,served with a drizzle of olive oil,a few snips of local herbs and lozenges of cooked potato; fat,fresh asparagus served with a lemony sauce spiked with Parmesan shavings; and a glass of the local vin rose.

Built in 1863 as a private villa,the Hotel du Cap opened as a hotel in 1870 and for 50 years was for travellers looking for respite from cold winters in the Riviera sun. It wasnt until 1923,when the American couple Sara and Gerald Murphywhose friends included Pablo Picasso,Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald and Archibald MacLeishrented the entire hotel,that it stayed open in the summer. Joseph P. Kennedy JFKs father embarked on a passionate love affair with Marlene Dietrich here in 1938,and 10 years later Rita Hayworth met her future husband,the Prince Aly Khan.

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This is an ode to gracious living and impeccable hospitality. At the restaurant,white-jacketed members of a solicitous wait staff effortlessly make their way across a crowded terrace. After a chocolate mille-feuille and an espresso,its time to decamp for Cannes,which by now seems a world away.