Palme d’Or this year at the Cannes Film Festival, Justine Triet’s “Anatomy of a Fall” exceeded one million admissions one month after its theatrical release, announced Saturday, September 23, its distributor Jean Labadie (Le Pacte) and its producer Marie-Ange Luciani.

“Anatomy of a Fall” far exceeds the last French Palme d’Or, “Titane” (306,293 entries in 2021) and is ahead of “Dheepan” by Jacques Audiard in 2015 (663,000 entries). It is on par with “La Vie d’Adèle” by Abdellatif Kechiche (1.036 million admissions in 2013), and could hope to catch up with “Entre les Murs” by Laurent Cantet (1.6 million in 2008), other Palme d hexagonal gold from the 2000s.

“Anatomy of a Fall”, which meticulously dissects the balance of power and domination within a couple of artists, will not, however, be presented by France at the Oscars for best foreign film, like its promoters. ‘hoped.

“What idiots they are!”

The commission of professionals which decides on Thursday preferred “The Passion of Dodin Bouffant” by Tran Anh Hung, with Benoît Magimel and Juliette Binoche. This costume film about French culinary traditions is due out on November 8 in France.

A decision that supporters of Justine Triet’s film had difficulty swallowing. “What idiots they are,” wrote Marie-Ange Luciani on Instagram after this decision, when Jean Labadie deemed this decision “inexcusable” on X (ex-Twitter). The president of the Union of Cinema Producers (UPC) Marc Missonnier said he was “a little stunned” by those who made a political interpretation of the choice for the Oscars, Justine Triet having sharply criticized the government, accused of wanting to “break” the cultural exception, by receiving its Palme.

“These are indisputable professionals” who chose, he recalled, stressing that the public authorities, via the CNC within which they meet, did not have the right to vote. “French cinema has long been looking for the right formula for choosing the film it sends to the Oscars. Let us instead formulate proposals for the future rather than falling into political anathema,” he added on X.