Roman Polanski’s Prada "anti-ad" featured at Cannes

 May 22, 2012 - 16:36 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Roman Polanski came to Cannes on Monday, May 21 to show an old film, and also to debut a new one, The Wrap reported.

But the new Polanski film is an oddity in the controversial director's career: It's an ad for Prada, though Polanski described it as "an anti-ad" afterwards.

The short, which screened before a restored version of Polanski's 1979 film "Tess," features Helena Bonham Carter as a Prada-wearing patient and Ben Kingsley as a psychiatrist who finds himself distracted by the beauty of the purple fur coat his patient has hung on a rack.

"Prada Suits Everyone," reads the caption as Kingsley dons the coat and strokes his face with its fur collar.

Italian Vogue ran a pirated image from the short, and many viewers went to Twitter to share their amazement that the "Rosemary's Baby" director had made a fashion ad – which festival chief Thierry Fremaux had teased on Sunday, when he mentioned that Polanski would be debuting a new film.

Polanski also had a presence earlier in the festival, when Cannes screened the documentary "Roman Polanski: A Film Memoir," which is made up of filmed interviews with the director.

At the screening of "Tess," Polanski escorted that film's star, Nastassja Kinski, down the red carpet.