What’s the best way to end the summer? Leave for a weekend when everyone else has returned to work! Cartier invited me to attend this year’s American Film Festival in Deauville, and I stopped by for the closing ceremony. Lou Douillon, Tilda Swinton, Vincent Lindon (the hilarious president of the jury this year!), Valerie Donzelli, Astrid Berges Frisbey, Woodkid… there were lots of beautiful people in Deauville. The festival is human in scale, and you can meet people very easily. Everything is accessible on foot, and people are very open–nothing like the insanity of Cannes. In short, it is a delight.

I’ve always loved Deauville, even if the grass is a bit too green to be real! First and foremost, there is the Hotel Normandy, dated but charming! The floral carpet and art deco is unbelievable. The pianist, the restaurant, its never-ending hallways… you don’t see hotels like that anymore! And then there are the mythic boardwalks, with cabanas enscribed with the names of famous actors and actresses. The beach is so wide that you can barely see the sea. I always think of the famous scene in “Un Homme et Une Femme,” with Jean Louis Trintignant and Anouk Aimé running toward each other, embracing and jumping around. Oh Deauville, so photogenic! I also imagine all the aristocrats of the Belle Epoque at the racetrack in their Sunday best, or taking their first dips in the sea. Deauville is a bit of a fantasy for the French, something that foreigners can never really understand. It’s always a pleasure to spend a weekend there! Thanks, Cartier.

On the picture : leather bag by Cartier.