Cannes Film Festival 2023: Frenchwoman Justine Triet wins the Palme d’Or, Jonathan Glazer the Grand Prix

2023-05-28 00:05:47

THE French filmmakers had been forgotten at the Césars… They have been avenged at the Cannes Film Festival. Three of them were in competition for the Palme d’Or. And, two years after Julia Ducournau with “Titanium”, it was Justine Triet, 44, who was crowned by winning the supreme award for “Anatomy of a fall” (in theaters August 23). This brilliant drama dissects the trial of a woman accused of murdering her husband.

On stage, Justine Triet, who had also signed the very noticed “Victoria” and « Sibyl », launched into a very political speech. She mentioned ” the historic, extremely powerful pension reform protest », « shockingly denied », but also « the commodification of culture » of a « neoliberal government ». “I dedicate this prize to all young directors and to all young directors,” she said. We have to make room for them, the place I took fifteen years ago in a slightly less hostile world, which still considered it possible to make mistakes and start over. »

Words that quickly made the Minister of Culture react on Twitter. “Happy to see the Palme d’or awarded to Justine Triet, the 10th for France! But flabbergasted by his speech so unjust. This film could not have seen the light of day without our French film funding model, which allows for a diversity that is unique in the world. Let’s not forget that,” said Rima Abdul-Malak. The filmmaker’s intervention should undoubtedly make people react in the coming days.

The Season of “Fallen Leaves”

Second big winner of this evening, « The Zone of Interest » du Britannique Jonathan Glazer won the Grand Prix. This film, whose theatrical release date has not yet been announced, tells the bucolic and “paradise” life of the commander of Auschwitz and his large family in a house and a garden adjoining the camp… A chilling feature film, where the spectator never enters inside the concentration camp complex, but hears the sounds of machines, shouts or gunshots.

Franco-Vietnamese director Tran Anh Hung won the Best Director Award with “La Passion de Dodin Bouffant”. In this slow and contemplative film, which includes very long kitchen scenes, he relates the romance between a gastronome and his cook (played by Benoit Magimel and Juliette Binoche). The filmmaker thanked his wife… “Sorry, I mean, my cook”, he dropped in an allusion to a replica of the film in theaters on November 8.

“Les Feuilles mortes” by Aki Kaurismaki (released on September 20) won the Jury Prize. The two main actors of this delicious romance between two cripples of life in a Helskinki filled with gloomy bars and against a background of desperate songs went on stage to read a word from the Finnish filmmaker: “Thank you and twist and shout ! (“Scream and dance!”).

Two prizes for Japan

A little earlier, Hirokazu Kore-eda’s “Monster” won the Screenplay Prize. This drama, whose release date is not yet known, features Minato, a 10-year-old child, and his mother, with whom he has lived alone since the death of his father and who worries when she leaves. notices that his son is suffering at school… A fascinating film, which demonstrates that reality is much more complex than we think when we only look at it from a single point of view.

Quite logically, the Best Actor Award went to Koji Yashuko, a 67-year-old Japanese actor, with incredible nuances in “Perfect Days” by Wim Wenders (in theaters November 29). In this contemplative and poetic, quasi-silent portrait, the actor embodies a man who cleans public toilets in Tokyo and thrives in this routine work, the encounters it brings him, reading or listening to American standards.

The Prize for female interpretation was awarded to the Turkish Merve Dizdar, 36, the first female role in “Dry Herbs” by Nuri Bilge Ceylan, a dark and tortuous drama of 3:17 (released July 12). The actress plays a teacher who lost her leg in an attack. “I would like to dedicate this award to all the women who are fighting to exist in this world,” she said, visibly moved.

The evening opened with a burst of laughter elicited by Anaïs Demoustier, lovely and funny in a long cream-colored dress. “I have the immense pleasure of awarding the Palme d’or…”, stumbled the actress who came to present the Camera d’or, a prize which rewards the best first film of all the sections of the Festival. “Not at all…I did a Spike Lee!” “, she apologized, in reference to the blunder of the American filmmaker, who had announced the victory of “Titanium” from the start of the ceremony in 2021. This year, we had to wait until the end of the awards ceremony to find out who had won the Palme d’Or.