For almost everyone who came to the Cannes Film Festival after several months at various stages of locking and alarming, the change was stunning.

Even in normal years, Cannes is a tremendous experience. But this time, immersing the theaters to their full potential and filling the red carpets is like stepping into another world. After the first screening of Wall Kilmer’s documentary “Wall” in Cannes, its co-director Ding Boo was still suffocating.

“Yesterday was very surreal. If you watch the movie from a whole house, it’s the most valuable film festival here,” Poo said. “It’s unbelievable that people don’t come around for that experience in one day.”

Infection is invisible in Cannes. If not vaccinated in the EU, everyone, including those who have been vaccinated, should be tested for a COVID-19 every 48 hours. Visitors will wear masks inside the house. Everything froze a little. There are usually vacancies in overcrowded hotels. Screening rooms that usually hold out hundreds of rows are not filled. Regular tuxedo ticket seekers, praying for tickets, are driven out of the festival-centric Palais to clear the space.

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But in places like the Cannes Red Carpet, life is almost normal, and if “normal” is applied to the length of the carpet, groups of stars move like parades of floats every few hours. Glamor has removed its mask, which may have been more than half the time last year and epidemics.

In the early days of the 74th Cannes Film Festival – which took place two months later than usual, after last year’s edition was completely canceled – the red carpet is as it has been in the past. Marion Cotillard, Bella Hadid, Matt Damon, Helen Mirren and Adam Driver may be more than that in terms of fashion with Spike Lee’s Flamingo Pink Louis Vuitton Suite. Although tests are not required, most participants walk without masks because most participants are vaccinated because the mat is outside. And there are no less photographers than regular fights for the stars ’attention.

The show has seemed a bit unfocused in recent episodes. Natural, Cannes type sequins are also healing.

“It’s like a strange dream, like waking up suddenly from two years of doing nothing: a sudden rise,” said Awsalom Pollak, the star of Nadav Lapit’s “Aheads Knee”, an intense Israeli play competing for Palm D’Or. . “There’s a certain kind of feeling, because it’s like: Where is the world going? Are you restarting? Is it changing? What’s going on here? “

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France relaxes COVID-19 restrictions and reopens international travel. Half of the French have received at least one dose of the vaccine, while 38% have been vaccinated. But the delta variant has recently increased the incidence of infections, which raises fears of a resurgence. On Friday, French Health Minister Oliver Warren said the Delta variant would become an opportunity for France to dominate this weekend.

This, along with pictures of participants without masks at the premieres, prompted the festival to raise reminders about the use of masks before each performance. In hotels in Crochet, advertisers and film executives have shifted their chairs to outdoor balconies as beachfront parties have dwindled. Cannes Mayor David Lisnard has also found a pair of COVID-19 sniper dogs.

Prior to the festival, its director, Thierry Framex, said that this year’s dinners will be more than just cocktails. On the sun-drenched French Riviera, most restaurants occupy the sidewalks. An important offer: despite some naughty kisses, Fremax did not welcome guests at the top of the balloon stairs.

“The epidemic has not been defeated,” Fremax said Tuesday. “So, even if people who go to the festival are vaccinated, we all have to be careful.”

But because there are so many variations in vaccination testing from country to country (for example, the United States does not have an official vaccination passport), the festival must be checked every day. The joke is that this year’s negative test is the most coveted ticket in Cannes. Although some initially complained about the improper process of retreating into a cubicle to fill a pipe with saliva, the lab in a tent down the street from the Palais, like the Nespresso bar in Pallai, became a regular stop for festival goers. , Less refreshing only.

The purpose-built test site houses 60 students from the medical school. The director of the lab, Guilloo Armana, said on Friday that he was conducting 4,000 tests a day.

“We have been working with the festival and the regional company,” Armana said, pointing out that any positive testing will be secretive. “Now we may have 10,000 people to test, everything is under control. This is the best way to create a festival again in Cannes and allow people to live new lives.”