ABOVE: cast of Foxcatcher on the red carpet Monday the 19th [photo courtesy of greenwichtime.com]

The forecast Monday here in Cannes called for heavy rain beginning around noon and lasting well into the night, with 70% precipitation increasing up to 90%. 

Fortunately, the rain that hit was intermittent at best and rarely more than a drizzle, sending the journalists, producers, and visiting cinematic fans scurrying about thankfully without much call for umbrellas, although the vendors still were at hand. 

Despite escaping the downpours that plagued both the 2012 and 2013 Cannes Film Festivals, the dreary weather and ominous sky kept a lot of the crowd at bay at the start of the second week of the festival.  There was noticeably less people crowding the streets and congregating around the Palais de Festival.  However, the show must go on, as they say, and the various panels and screenings continued as scheduled with good attendance, the lines outside screening rooms like the Salle Debussy merely sprouting roofs of black umbrellas.

The red carpet itself managed to escape the need for umbrellas from years past, but the cold wind did cause some trouble for a few actresses, like Jessica Chastain, who needed to hold down the skirt of her gown to prevent the wind from blowing it about.

Tuesday calls for the return of partly sunny skies with temperatures reaching into the 70s F (high of 23 C).