(Cannes) By awarding the supreme prize to Anatomy of a Fall, the jury crowned one of the festival-goers’ favorite films and at the same time consecrated a female director for the third time in the history of the festival. Under the leadership of President Ruben Östlund, the nine jurors announced a consensual list of winners. Or almost.
The three big favorites of festival-goers received awards at the closing ceremony of the 76th Cannes Film Festival. Anatomy of a Fall, a formidable legal drama by Justine Triet, leaves with the prestigious Palme d’or; the Grand Prize, in second place on the honor roll, was awarded to the chilling The Zone of Interest, by Jonathan Glazer, and The Dead Leaves, by Aki Kaurismäki, probably the most endearing film of the selection, obtained the jury prize.
During a press conference held after the ceremony, President Ruben Östlund, himself winner of the Palme last year thanks to Triangle of Sadness (Without filter), did not really want to explain how the decisions were made. . “We had a lot of discussions and everyone agreed that the selection was very strong,” he said. All these films had the concern to carry the spectator with them. This is exactly what cinema should be. And I hope they will all be entitled to great careers. »
Eleventh French Palme d’or in the history of the festival, and only the third awarded to a director after Jane Campion (The Piano in 1993) and Julia Ducournau (Titane in 2021), Anatomie d’une chute, by Justine Triet, is a legal drama in which we try to recreate the circumstances of the fatal fall that a man had after having defended himself from the upper floor of the chalet he occupies with his family not far from Grenoble. But this fall, we will learn over the elements revealed throughout an exciting investigation, is also that of the couple he formed with his wife of German origin (Sandra Hüller). Added to the case is the surgical dissection of a couple’s relationship. The American company Neon has acquired the distribution rights for this feature film, which Entract Films will relay in Quebec.
Visibly upset, Justine Triet, to whom we owe in particular The Battle of Solferino and Sybil, took the opportunity to discuss the protest movements that have shaken France for months because of the pension reform imposed by the government. . “This historic, hugely powerful and unanimous protest is shockingly denied and suppressed,” she said. All this breaks out in several aspects of society and cinema is no exception. The commodification of culture is breaking up a French cultural exception without which I wouldn’t be here. I dedicate this Palme to all the young directors who are unable to shoot. I was able to find my place 15 years ago in a slightly less hostile world, where it was still possible to make mistakes and start over. »
The Grand Prize-winning The Zone of Interest is this drama in which a Nazi commander, responsible for the operations of the Auschwitz camp, dreams of his small suburban life with his family while the gas chambers belch their smoke next door. . The International Critics’ Prize was also awarded to him. On the stage of the Grand Théâtre Lumière, Jonathan Glazer paid tribute to Martin Amis, the recently deceased author, whose novel inspired the film.
The two feature films with the highest awards have one actress in common: Sandra Hüller. A rule preventing the jury from awarding more than one prize to the same production meant that the actress could not get her hands on an interpretation prize (this choice would have been completely justified for one or the other of his two performances), but the public at the Lumière nevertheless gave him a nice ovation. To everyone’s surprise (and that of the winner!), this prize went instead to Merve Dizdar, magnificent in Dry Herbs, a film by Nuri Bilge Ceylan in which she plays more of a supporting role. “I dedicate this award to all the women who, like Nuray [the first name of the character she plays], struggle to exist in this world and keep hope alive,” she said.
As for the jury prize, the third in the hierarchy of the awards, it went to Aki Kaurismäki’s melancholic comedy, The Dead Leaves. With the Finnish filmmaker absent, the two main actors of his film, Alma Pöysti and Jussi Vatanen, read a message that the filmmaker sent them: “I am deeply honored to have participated in this festival which continues to bring the movie theater. Thanks and Twist
Perfect Days, which marks the beautiful return to fiction by Wim Wenders, earned its superb actor, Kōji Yakusho, the prize for best actor. The latter, seen in particular in films by Shohei Imamura (including L’anguille, Palme d’or in 1997), also in Babel (Alejandro González Iñárritu), portrays brilliantly a man who has found a new meaning in his life by working at cleaning public toilets in Tokyo. This feature film also won the favor of the Ecumenical Prize jury.
La passion de Dodin Bouffant, a film with Juliette Binoche and Benoît Magimel celebrating the art of loving and the art of cooking, won Tran Anh Hùng the prize for directing, and Monster, by Hirokazu Kore-eda, was awarded thanks to the screenplay, written by Sakamoto Yuji. Note that this very beautiful film also won the Queer Palm on Friday, awarded to a production dealing with subjects related to the LGBTQ community.
In all, seven feature films are on the honor roll, leaving several big names on the sidelines, starting with veterans Ken Loach, whose The Old Oak was dropped from the charts, and Marco Bellocchio (The Abduction), although that these two films nevertheless had ardent defenders within the festival community. Nanni Moretti, with his autofiction Vers un avenir radiant, did not convince the jury either, nor did Alice Rohrwacher, who, with La chimera, nevertheless offered a wonderful moment of cinema. A very bad day for Italy, to be honest.
But, as the president of the jury pointed out many times during the press conference, the selection was really solid this year and we can only agree. We would be very inappropriate to contest the choices that have been made, especially since several of our favorites have been awarded. All in all, a great year in Cannes!
