A Cannes regular since her teenage years, French star Anaïs Demoustier returns to the Croisette this year to open the festival with The Electric Kiss, Pierre Salvadori’s frothy period romance set in 1920s Paris.

Demoustier plays Suzanne, a down-on-her-luck carnival performer billed as “La Vénus Electrificata,” who earns money by letting men kiss her for a literal jolt of “electric love.” Her fortunes shift when she is mistaken for a clairvoyant by a grieving painter, played by Pio Marmaï, desperate to reconnect with his dead wife.

What begins as a small con deepens when the painter’s shrewd agent (Gilles Lellouche) spots an opportunity, encouraging Suzanne to continue the deception as a way to revive his client’s creativity — and bankroll them both. As Suzanne studies the dead woman’s diaries to sustain the illusion, her performance becomes increasingly intimate, and increasingly dangerous, as genuine feelings begin to blur the line between artifice and truth.

Light on its feet but quietly attuned to questions of grief, memory and make-believe, the film serves as a charming aperitif to kick off this year’s festival — a playful ode to the magic of cinema. “It’s a tribute to filmmaking, to actors’ performances and to fiction in general, to the lies that we tell to live our lives.”

What was your first reaction when you found out that The Electric Kiss would open Cannes?

I was very happy when I learned that it was chosen as the opening film. I had not seen the film when I heard the news — I only saw it later. And I thought it was a very good choice. Because it’s a tribute to filmmaking, to actors’ performances and to fiction in general, to the lies that we can tell to live our lives.

Does opening the festival bring extra pressure or stress?

No, because though it is opening Cannes, it’s not in Competition. So there’s no extra pressure or extra stress, just extra pleasure. We can just enjoy the experience. It will be a very lighthearted Cannes for me this year.

How many times have you been to Cannes now?

I think more or less 15 times. I first came with a film by Michael Haneke when I was 15 [2003’s Time of the Wolf]. I’ve been there with Valérie Donzelli’s film [Marguerite & Julien in 2015] in Competition and with the closing film [2012’s Thérèse] from Claude Miller. I’ve had films in Critics’ Week and Un Certain Regard. I was President of the Jury that awarded the Camera d’Or [to Vietnamese director Pham Thien An for Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell] in 2023. So roughly, around 15 times.

What drew you to The Electric Kiss and to this role?

Suzanne is quite a mysterious character. She works in a fair and then pretends to be a clairvoyant, which she is not. She claims she can put people in contact with loved ones they’ve lost. So it’s a kind of double level of acting — she’s acting within the film, pretending to be someone else. She has to invent details about the dead wife of the character played by Pio Marmaï. It’s a film about fantasy, memory, and how we deal with loss, but in a very light way. I found it very engaging, and it’s a beautiful film.

What was it like working with director Pierre Salvadori?

He’s a filmmaker who pays great attention to mise en scène. Every shot corresponds to an idea. He’s very pleasant to work with and he loves actors. It’s a real pleasure to make a film with him at every step.

Do you personally believe in mediums or the supernatural?

I went through a period in my life when I was tempted by it. I wanted to see a clairvoyant, to be put in contact with people. I don’t believe 100 percent, but I’ve been curious. What’s interesting in the film is that even though my character is lying, she is also truly comforting someone who is grieving.

Was it a challenge to play someone pretending to be in a trance?

It was a real pleasure. At the beginning, she’s very afraid and feels she cannot do it. But little by little, she takes pleasure in it, and I did the same while playing her. It’s a very physical role. She has to use her body to create the illusion of a trance. There are moments where she shivers, and she even wears lenses to make her eyes appear white. It was very interesting to perform.

Do you prefer comedy or drama?

I like both, as long as the writing is strong. I love auteur cinema, whether it’s comedy or drama. It’s the luxury of being an actor to move between genres, to face different challenges, as long as the screenplay or filmmaker is strong.

What would you consider a success for the film at Cannes?

I hope the audience feels what I felt watching it, a reconnection to the love of cinema and fiction. The film celebrates the poetry and magic of filmmaking. Pierre Salvadori has a very humanistic gaze. His characters lie, they betray each other, they make mistakes but they always try to do their best. There’s something very tender in the way he looks at people.

I really just hope people will laugh, because laughter is good for the heart. It’s something I’ve never experienced at Cannes before, certainly not with the Haneke movie (laughs). So hopefully, this time, it will happen.