American film to take center stage at Cannes

Starring Nicole Kidman and Clive Owen, the film tells the story of one of American's most famous literary couples: writer Ernest Hemingway and Martha Gellhorn, his war correspondent wife of five years. Gellhorn, who reported from the Spanish Civil War, was Hemingway's inspiration for his novel on the same theme, "For Whom the Bell Tolls."

The festival is to close on a bittersweet note with a tribute to French film director Claude Miller, who died two weeks ago.

Organizers are screening "Therese D.," a film he completed shortly before his death. Based on a period novel by Francois Mauriac, the film stars Audrey Tautou as a 1920s woman trapped in a failing marriage in Paris. The movie will play on May 27 after the festival's awards ceremony.

Associated Press writer Jill Lawless in London contributed to this report.

Online: http://www.festival-cannes.fr/en.html