Justine Triet’s “Anatomy of a Fall” wins the Palme d’Or for the 76th time Cannes Film Festival in a ceremony on Saturday presented the film festival’s highest award for a courtroom drama in the French Alps.
Anatomy of a Fall, starring Sandra Hüller as a writer trying to prove her innocence in the face of her husband’s death, is only the third film directed by a woman to win the Palme d’Or. One of the two previous winners, Julia Ducournau, was on this year’s jury.
The Cannes Grand Prix, second prize, went to “The Zone of Interest” by Jonathan Glazer, one chilling Martin Amis adaptation about a German family living next door to Auschwitz.
The awards are decided by a jury chaired by two-time Palme d’Or winner Ruben Östlund, the Swedish director who won last year’s The Triangle of Sadness. The ceremony took place before the festival’s closing night film, Pixar’s animated feature “Elemental.”
The jury’s award went to Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki’s “Falling Leaves,” a stalemate love story about a blossoming romance in a loveless working world, where people Messages from the war in Ukraine are regularly broadcast on the radio.
Best actor goes to veteran Japanese star Koji Yakusho, who plays a reflective middle-aged Tokyo man cleaning toilets in Wim Wenders’ “Perfect Days.” Wenders’ film is a light-hearted, casual character study.
Turkish actor Merve Dizdar won the best actress award for Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s About Dry Grasses. Ceylan’s extended story set in snowy eastern Anatolia follows a teacher, Samet (Deniz Celiloğlu), who is accused of misconduct by a young female student. Dizdar plays a friend who is attracted and repelled by Samet.
Dizdar said, “The character I portrayed in the film is a person who fights for her life and she overcame a lot of difficulties. Under normal circumstances, I would have to work hard for this character. ,” said Dizdar.
“I understand how it feels to be a woman in this part of the country,” she continued. “I want to dedicate this award to all the women who are fighting to survive and overcome difficulties in this world and to nurture hope.”
Vietnamese-French director Tran Anh Hung won best director for Pot-au-Feu, a beautiful food love story starring Juliette Binoche and Benoît Magimel and set in a castle. 19th century French gourmet.
Best screenplay goes to Yuji Sakamoto for “Monster”. Sakamoto penned Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda’s nuanced drama, with altered perspectives, about two boys who struggle to be accepted by their schools in their hometown. “Monster” also won the Queer Palm, an honor bestowed by journalists for the festival’s best LGBTQ-themed film.
Quentin Tarantino, who won Cannes’ top prize for Pulp Fiction, attended the ceremony to pay tribute to filmmaker Roger Corman. Tarantino praised Corman for filling him and countless audiences with “pure cinematic joy.”
Corman, an independent film producer, said: “My cinema is inhibited, filled with redundancy and fun. “I feel like this is what Cannes is about.”
The festival’s Uncertainty category awarded on Friday, awarding the top prize to Molly Manning Walker’s debut feature“How to have sex.”
Saturday’s ceremony closed a version of Cannes with no shortage of spectacle, stars, or controversy.
The biggest capacity premieres came out of the competition. Martin Scorsese debut his Osage murder epic “Flower Moon Killer”, a grand vision of American exploitation with Leonardo DiCaprio and Lily Gladstone. “Indiana Jones and the Wheel of Destiny,” Harrison Ford bids farewell to Indywas released to pay tribute to Ford. Wes Anderson premiered “Asteroid City”.
Festival opened on a controversial note. “Jeanne du Barry,” a historical drama starring Johnny Depp as Louis XV, premiered on opening night. The premiere marks Depp’s most prominent appearance since the end of his explosive trial last year with ex-wife Amber Heard.
The selection of “Jeanne du Barry” fueled criticism of Cannes because overly hospitable to men accused of abusive behavior.
