In the past week and a half, the world’s most renowned of all film festivals took place on the French Côte d’Azur for the 76th time – and FILMSTARTS.de was also there live for you. This year, two world premieres of films in particular caused the most stir: “Indiana Jones and the Wheel of Destiny” with Harrison Ford (» to the detailed FILMSTARTS review) and Martin Scorsese’s “Killers Of The Flower Moon” with Leonardo DiCaprio ( » to the detailed FILMSTARTS review).
However, the two films were excluded from the Palme d’Or – they were screened out of competition, including 21 films this year. The winners were selected by a nine-person jury, which included Hollywood stars Paul Dano (“The Batman”) and Brie Larson (“The Marvels”) and cited two-time Palme d’Or winner Ruben Östlund (“The Square”, “Triangle Of Sadness”) as jury chairman .
76th Cannes Film Festival: The Palme d’Or went to…
This year, “Anatomy of a fall” queue up. With Justine Triet, it is only the third time that a female director has won the Palme d’Or (after Julia Ducournau for “Titane” and Jane Champion for “The Piano”). The court drama, in which an alleged murder of an author has to be solved, is only an alleged murder mystery – and in reality it becomes the careful analysis of a very complex relationship, which, in addition to the strong script, is characterized above all by an incredible (!!!) performance. worn by “Toni Erdmann” star Sandra Hüller (» on the FILMSTARTS review).
2nd + 3rd place
The Grand Prix (or Grand Jury Prize) goes to the second placed film in the competition – and that year was Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone Of Interest. The highly experimental drama, which was partly shot on set with automated surveillance cameras and without additional crew, is about the daily life of the family of the camp commander of Auschwitz. However, the atrocities in the concentration camp can only be guessed in the background, while the wife of the SS commander (after the Palme d’Or, the second place also goes to a film with Sandra Hüller) speaks in the foreground about fashion, furnishing and family organization (» for detailed information MOVIE STARTS Critique).
The prize for third place among the participating films, on the other hand, is simply named jury prize and in 2023 it will go to the Finnish doyen Aki Kaurismäki and his dry, humorous and deeply moving tragic comedy “Fallen Leaves” (» to the detailed FILMSTARTS review).
The best actors
If Best Actress of a film in the competition, Merve Dizdar was awarded for Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s 197-minute epic “About Dry Grasses”. In it, the Turkish actress plays a teacher in a remote part of Anatolia, who was intensively involved in trade unions for a long time, but then lost a leg in a terrorist attack (» for the extensive FILMSTARTS review).
The price for the Best Actor instead went to someone who was considered by many to be an absolute top favorite for this award: Japanese actor Kôji Yakusho plays a toilet cleaner in Tokyo in Wim Wenders’ “Perfect Days”, who seems absolutely at peace with himself and exudes an incredible charm with its self-absorbed character (» to the extensive FILMSTARTS review).
Best Director + Best Screenplay
If Dear Director Tran Anh Hung was awarded for “La Passion De Dodin Bouffantxy”. No wonder: his historical drama is about a master chef in 19th century France – and most of the 135 minutes are made up of grandiose cooking scenes that would make any modern cooking show jealous. In any case, during the festival screenings, the rumble of the audience could be heard from miles away – and there is probably hardly anyone whose mouth does not immediately water when watching this wonderfully flowing film…
Last but not least, that’s what the price was for Best screenplay to Yuji Sakamoto for his script for Monster, a three-part, back-to-back reveal drama directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda (who has already won a Palme d’Or for Shoplifters). The decision may also have to do with the film’s complex, puzzling structure, in which mysterious events are revealed only gradually (» for the extended FILMSTARTS review).