“I thought that my career was over” — Meryl Streep Reflects on Her Last Time at Cannes
The Cannes Film Festival 2024 kicked off with a bang on Tuesday at the Grand Théâtre Lumière—with a thunderous two-minute standing ovation to honor Meryl Streep.
The 74-year-old actress has been awarded the Palme d’Or at the Opening Ceremony, the highest and most prestigious award. Streep, who was wearing a Dior haute couture white silk gown, was so overcome with emotion that she first pretended to cop a quick exit from the stage, but ended up grooving to the applause.
French actress Juliette Binoche presented the award to Streep, looking visibly moved.
The Academy Award-winning French actress called her “an international treasure” as she listed Streep’s most highly acclaimed roles. “When I see you on the screen, I don’t see you … Where does it come from? Were you born like this? I don’t know, but there’s a believer in you; a believer that allows me to believe,” Binoche said.
“You changed the way we look at cinema,” she added.
Streep compared her career’s defining moments to “looking out the window of a bullet train, watching my youth fly into my middle age, right onto where I am standing on this stage tonight. So many faces and so many places that I remember.”
Thirty-five years have passed since the actress last made an appearance at Cannes. During the 1989 event, she was promoting the mystery/thriller Evil Angels.
The Sophie’s Choice star recalled what her life was like at the time. “I was already a mother of three, I was about to turn 40. I thought that my career was over,” she humbly confessed, adding that most actresses don’t get to enjoy the same longevity.
“That was not an unrealistic expectation for actresses at that time,” she explained.
“And the only reason that I’m here tonight and that it continued is because of the very gifted artists with whom I’ve worked, including Madame La President,” she said, gesturing towards jury president Greta Gerwig, her co-star in the 2019 production of Little Women.
The Devil Wears Prada actress also mentioned being “just so grateful that you haven’t gotten sick of my face and you haven’t gotten off the train.”
She continued, “My mother, who is usually right about everything, said to me: ‘Meryl, my darling, you’ll see. It all goes so fast. So fast.’ And it has, and it does.”
“Except for my speech, which is too long,” the actress said as she jokingly ended her acceptance speech.
When her honorary Palme d’Or award was announced by Variety, the actress remarked that she was “immeasurably honored.”
“To win a prize at Cannes, for the international community of artists, has always represented the highest achievement in the art of filmmaking. To stand in the shadow of those who have previously been honored is humbling and thrilling in equal part. I so look forward to coming to France to thank everyone in person this May,” Streep graciously declared.
