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.…