Who to succeed Parasite, of South Korean Bong Joon-ho, crowned in 2019, before the coronavirus? This year, no favorite stood out clearly for the 74e edition of the Cannes Film Festival, at the end of a good performance competition, which counted no less than 24 films in official competition. After deliberation in an undisclosed location, the jury, chaired by American filmmaker Spike Lee – the first African-American artist to hold such a post – began to reveal the winners during the closing ceremony:
- Best Actor Award: Caleb Landry Jones, for Nitram.
- Best Actress Award: Renate Reinsve, for Julie (in 12 chapters).
- Jury Prize: Ahed’s Knee, by Nadav Lapid; tied with Memoria, by Apichatpong Weerasethakul.
- Palme d’or of honor: Marco Bellocchio.
- Palme d’or for short film: All the crows in the world, by Tang Yi.
- Golden Camera: Antoneta Alamat Kusijanovic, for Murina.
More information to come on LeMonde.fr in a few moments.
International press favorite “Drive My Car”
Among the films that have marked the Croisette the most, Drive My Car, of the Japanese Ryusuke Hamaguchi, was the favorite of the international press. This dazzlingly aesthetic film-river, adapted from a short story by Haruki Murakami, features two beings haunted by the past.
In other genres, no one has forgotten Annette, rock opera by Leos Carax, since its projection with fanfare at the opening, nor Julie (in 12 chapters), a fine observation of the amorous mores of today’s youth, with a feminist tone, by the Norwegian Joachim Trier.
The jury had the opportunity to award a woman, for the second time only, twenty-eight years later The Piano Lesson, by Jane Campion – with the youngest of the competition, Julia Ducournau, author of the most gory film, Titanium, shunned by the critics, but which left no one indifferent.
A coronation, in Cannes, of the Russian Kirill Serebrennikov, in disgrace in Moscow and banned from leaving his country after a conviction, or of Nadav Lapid, a harsh critic of Israel, would have sent a strong political message.
Among the filmmakers who have already obtained the Palme d’Or and who are trying to join the very closed club of nine twice-crowned directors, only Apichatpong Weerasethakul has convinced some of the critics, with his film Memoria – the most hermetic, however. As for the last opus of Nanni Moretti and that of Jacques Audiard, they seemed to lose much in breath or in singularity.
Italian filmmaker Marco Bellocchio also received an honorary Palme d’Or, which after five decades of a committed career, sparing neither the army nor religion, presented a very personal documentary, Marx can wait.
After the thrill of the winners, the Croisette will be able to unwind. Cannes is showing as a closing and preview the most anticipated French comedy of the summer, OSS 117: red alert in black Africa, signed Nicolas Bedos, with Jean Dujardin, Pierre Niney, and Fatou N’Diaye.