French director Justine Triet received the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival on Saturday May 27 for her film “Anatomy of a Fall”. She thus became the third crowned director in the history of the Festival. At 44, the filmmaker succeeds Jane Campion (“The piano lesson”, 1993) and Julia Ducournau (“Titane”, 2021). On stage, she had a few words about pension reform, denouncing a “shockingly denied” social movement.
This new coronation of a young French director also testifies to the success of French productions in international festivals, with the Golden Lion awarded to Audrey Diwan in 2021 in Venice for “The Event” and the Golden Bear in February. to Nicolas Philibert for “On the Adamant”. The jury, chaired by Ruben Östlund and where Julia Ducournau also sat, chose a film which tells the trial of a widow (Sandra Hüller) accused at the assizes of having killed her husband. The opportunity to dissect the power dynamics within an affluent artistic couple and to expose the social prejudices that independent women face.
The jury also sent a contemporary message about the appalling banality of evil, giving the Grand Prize to Jonathan Glazer for “The Zone of Interest,” about the daily life of the Nazi commandant of Auschwitz, a radical work. The director’s prize went to Tran Anh Hùng for “La passion de Dodin Bouffant”, a period film on French gastronomy with Benoît Magimel, and that of the jury to Aki Kaurismäki for “Les Feuilles Mortes”.
Turkish actress Merve Dizdar dedicated her acting award in Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s ‘Dry Herbs’ to “all women who struggle to overcome the difficulties existing in this world”. Best Actor went to Koji Yakusho for his role as a Tokyo public restroom cleaner in Wim Wenders’ dreamlike film “Perfect Days”.
Before presenting the screenplay award to Sakamoto Yuji for Kore-eda’s “Monster”, American actor John C. Reilly fell silent on stage in tribute “to all those who write and give birth to great films”, in the midst of writers’ strike in Hollywood. The jury of the Swedish Swedish Östlund had to decide between 21 filmmakers, including 7 directors. This list puts an end to the 76th edition, chaired for the first time by Iris Knobloch, former Warner.
It was marked by controversy over the comeback of Johnny Depp, after his defamation trials on accusations of domestic violence, by a strong presence of cinema from the African continent, and young female directors. One of them, Molly Manning Walker received the Un Certain Regard award for “How To Have Sex”, and two others share the Golden Eye for best documentary, Kadib Abyad “The mother of all lies and Kaouther Ben Hania (“The Girls of Olfa”, about the radicalization of Tunisian teenage girls).
As for the closing film, the festival revives the tradition of screening the latest creation from Pixar Studios, acquired by Disney: the animated film “Elementary”, which will be released in June, had its world premiere after the ceremony. .
