Catherine Deneuve Booed Off Italian Stage For Speaking French

Forget about the half-assed culture wars in our backyard. Europeans do it right -- particularly the Italians, who know exactly what they want from their entertainment and don't care who they have to offend to get it. Like Catherine Deneuve? Acting royalty, iconic beauty, international superstar? Pffftt... she's a "thief". And a French one at that.

Deneuve and Italian actor Michele Placido were featured performers at a cultural festival in Tuscany, where they read portions of the postwar-memoir anthology Je me souviens (I Remember) with musical accompaniment. It was all very tasteful and lovely, at least until attendees realized Deneuve would stick to her native language throughout -- without subtitles, which even Placido later admitted might have been "a mistake":

[Deneuve] was greeted by whistles and boos, the ANSA news agency said Thursday. Police had to intervene to calm down about 200 people shouting, "Thieves. We want our money back," ANSA said. Organizers responded by offering free tickets to another show at the La Versiliana festival as compensation, the news agency said.

"These things happen," Placido was also quoted as saying. Deneuve had no comment on the matter and apparently fled the country before criminal charges could be filed. Developing...

· French star Deneuve booed at Italy performance [AP]