Venice Film Festival Has Always Been Canness Cooler, Older Sister [Video]

There’s no denying the Cannes circus is entertaining. Take the headline-making moment Madonna first treated the red carpet to Jean Paul Gaultier’s cone bra in 1991, or the time Milla Jovovich was reportedly sewn back into her beaded loincloth while on The Fifth Element 1997 red carpet. Every instance a woman (see: Julia Roberts, Kristen Stewart, and Jennifer Lawrence) goes barefoot or *gasp!* wears flip-flops, the press goes completely mad, despite the fact we’ve seen it before.

Not so for Venice, which quietly water taxis its guests into town with little fuss and only the faintest whiff of nautical attire to add to the windswept mood. By the time the Italian installment comes around at the end of the summer, there seems to be a visible sigh of relief and a relaxing of the shoulders. There are freckles dotted on actors’ skin (although not if you’re Anne Hathaway!), tales of holidays to tell, and more space for …