Lighting Each Other Up: The Maison’s love affair with cinema
On the occasion of the 79th Venice International Film Festival – Biennale 2022, Cartier celebrated a history entwined with cinema that stretches back to the 1920s, while continuing as the festival’s official partner for the second consecutive year.
Vanessa Kirby wears a Panthère de Cartier necklace in white gold with emeralds, onyx, and diamonds
Initiated in 2021, Cartier’s official partnership with the Venice International Film Festival – Biennale Cinema 2022 is just one part of the Maison’s cultural commitments to cinema, and the arts in general.
- Cyrille Vigneron, President and CEO, Cartier International.
Cartier’s intimate connection to cinema began in 1926, when the Tank watch appeared on screen for the first time in the film The Son of the Sheik. Rudolph Valentino, starring in the title role, was so taken with the iconic design that he convinced the director to let him wear the anachronistic timepiece.
The Legendary Stories: From Paris to Hollywood
From that moment on, the admiration between the Maison and cinema was mutual, and legends were written. In Paris, in 1946, Jean Cocteau called on Cartier to make Josette Day cry diamond tears in Beauty and the Beast. In Hollywood, in 1950, Gloria Swanson lit up the screen in Sunset Boulevard, adorned with two spectacular diamond and rock crystal bracelets.
In 1956 Grace Kelly wore, for her last screen appearance in High Society, the engagement ring given to her by Prince Rainier III of Monaco. Off-screen, the relationship was no less fantastical; take for example the Mexican actress María Félix, who is said to have brought two baby crocodiles to Cartier in Paris to inspire the creation of a landmark articulated necklace.
The Cartier Collection: A Cinematic Exhibition
Some of these precious testimonials to the Maison’s relationship with the silver screen have become part of the Cartier Collection and were exhibited in the Maison’s Venice boutique during La Biennale Cinema 2022.
Created in 1983, the Cartier Collection is made up of approximately 3,500 pieces dating from the 1860s to the 2000s and constitutes a unique testimony to the history of the Maison’s style and creativity. Visitors were invited to discover creations that belonged to Grace Kelly and Gloria Swanson amongst others, a bracelet loaned by Catherine Deneuve for the occasion, and the “Toussaint” necklace, a replica of an earlier collar made by the Maison for the Ocean’s 8 film.
«Exposition « Cartier et le cinéma »»
Shining Bright: Stars of the Red Carpet
At the opening ceremony of the Venice International Film Festival, the Friends of the Maison carried on the grand tradition of illuminating the red carpet in Cartier creations.
Bianca Brandolini with a High Jewelry necklace from the Résonances de Cartier collection in white gold with rock crystal and diamonds
Timothée Chalamet wears a white gold and hawk’s eye ring and a white gold ring with a buff-top cut onyx stone. Julianne Moore, Jury President, wears High Jewelry earrings in platinum with emeralds and diamonds along with Panthère jewelry.
For Khatia Buniatishvili, a Cactus de Cartier necklace in yellow gold with tourmalines and baguette-cut diamonds. Catherine Deneuve wears Paris Nouvelle Vague earrings in rose gold with brilliant-cut diamonds.
Mélanie Laurent shines with a ring and pendant earrings from the Cactus de Cartier collection in yellow gold set with peridots, rubellite beads, and brilliant-cut diamonds. Isabelle Huppert wears Bambou creations.
Glory to the Filmmaker: Walter Hill
In 2021, the first Cartier Glory to the Filmmaker Award was presented to Sir Ridley Scott for his particularly original contribution to the contemporary film industry. In 2022, the second edition saw Cartier and the Venice International Film Festival pay tribute to the artistic singularity of legendary director, writer and producer, Walter Hill.
On September 6, the award ceremony, which celebrates creative freedom, took place in the Sala Grande (Palazzo del Cinema), before the screening Out of Competition of Hill’s new film, Dead For A Dollar.