Anne Hathaway

The veteran actress is owning her ambition-and having the time of her life.

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The first sign that Anne Hathaway had come to steal the show at this year's Cannes Film Festival was when she stepped out for her first official appearance in a stunning Schiaparelli two-piece metallic floral number, skin glowing, her glossy mane perfectly blown out. Next came a Gucci mod minidress, paired with cat-eye sunglasses. By the time she appeared at the premiere for the film she was there to promote, Armageddon Time, looking like an actual angel in a glittering white Armani Privé gown with a satin wrap and cascading train, the internet was buzzing: We were in the midst of an Anne Hathaway renaissance.

It has been nearly 10 years since the height of the Hathahaters, the critics who attacked Hathaway for... what was it, even? Being too earnest? Eager? For too transparently trying to succeed in her chosen field? Which is why, for anyone who ever tried to do everything right and was still inexplicably disliked, the adoration shown to Hathaway at Cannes felt both thrilling and long overdue-the real-life equivalent of that scene in The Devil Wears Prada where she struts through the office in those thigh-high Chanel boots.