AP PHOTOS: Elegance and whimsy mix at Venice Film Festival

VENICE, Italy -- All across the Lido, you could see it on the stars' faces: sheer joy. Whether it was Timothée Chalamet's beaming face greeting fans, Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain's playfulness for the cameras, Josh Brolin's ear-to-ear grin in the front row of a “Dune” event or those looks exchanged between Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck, the 78th Venice International Film Festival mixed elegance and fun in a way rarely seen since early 2020. Reminders of the pandemic were all around — fans were kept farther back, films played in cinemas with empty seats, and masks remained, albeit in the background. At photo calls and on the red carpets, sunglasses were often the only thing covering stars' faces as the shutters clicked. Jamie Lee Curtis picked a whimsical pair of shades for one photo op, while Chalamet's giddiness was obvious even when he kept his eyes covered.