Jodie Foster And Mel Gibson Get Standing Ovation At Cannes Film Festival

Jodie Foster and Mel Gibson got something they are unlikely to receive in the U.S. Tuesday night — a standing ovation for their film The Beaver at a black-tie screening during the Cannes Film Festival in France. Unlike Brad Pitt's film The Tree of Life, which received scattered boos at the end of its Cannes screening, no audible boos were heard for Gibson, who grabbed tabloid headlines last year for his recorded phone rants to girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva.

Foster and her co-star stood for over five minutes waving to the enthusiastic audience numbering in the hundreds. At one point, Gibson began to whistle, presumably for his director Foster. Gibson and Foster shared knowing looks and walked hand in hand on the red carpet prior to the screening.

The Beaver, which follows the life of a mentally ill father who learns to communicate with his family through a beaver puppet, received mixed reviews in the U.S. and flopped at the box office. Earlier in the day, Foster expressed hope at a news conference that European audiences would be more receptive to the film noting that American audiences preferred more easily defined movies. —ERIK MEERS in Cannes