CANNES WATCH: Star-studded Calvin Klein event honors women in film

The star-studded Calvin Klein Women in Film soiree could not have come at a more appropriate moment — at a Cannes Film Festival where the dearth of women directors has been a major theme.

The gilded guest list of top actresses used the glamorous event on the grounds of a private mansion to speak out about equality — and perhaps show off their designer clothes.

Emily Blunt looked ravishing in a figure-hugging cream sheath — and struck a cynical tone on the cinema landscape parity.

"You'll have a hit movie that women are at the forefront of and people are like 'Oh, it's all changing.' And then I feel like it resorts back to what it was before ... But I do feel that things are changing," said Blunt, who stars in "Sicario," one of the 19 films competing this year for Cannes' top prize.

Rachel Weisz called it "very sad that an event like tonight has to happen."

"We make up 51 percent of planet Earth and we're just very disproportionately represented, in terms of directors and writers - the people in charge of the storytelling. So we just need more films from women's points of view," she said.

French actress Melanie Laurent, who's been cast in Angelina Jolie's next directorial effort "By The Sea," lavished praise on her boss.

"Yes, another great female director. She's amazing, everything is so simple with her and I still can't believe she chose me," said Laurent.

Others, like jury member Sienna Miller, used the evening to express how the experience of the Cannes Film Festival has affected them.

"It's completely reignited a passion. I don't watch enough films and I think I'll be watching a lot more, because I'm absolutely loving it, seeing that much cinema," said Miller, who shimmered in a pearl silky gown with sporty straps.

Also at the event was Miller's fellow Cannes jury member, actor Jake Gyllenhaal, French actress Isabelle Huppert, as well as models Natalia Vodianova and Doutzen Kroes.