Le 75e The Cannes Film Festival chose a corrosive and political outburst of laughter by offering a second Palme d’Or to Ruben Östlund, for Triangle of sadness (Without filter, in French), his acid satire of the super-rich and class relations in Western societies.
This crossing of Titanic et Feast succeeds Titanium by the Frenchwoman Julia Ducournau, winner of the previous edition.
five years later The Square, his feature film on the world of contemporary art which was in the same vein, the 48-year-old Swedish director has not calmed down. This time he denounces, through caricature and excess, the excesses of the society of appearance and capitalism. He joined the webbed doubles club, alongside the Dardenne brothers, Ken Loach and Michael Haneke.
“We had only one goal: to make a film that interests the public and makes them think by provoking”said Ruben Östlund when receiving his award. “As in a conversation between friends, you can laugh when you talk about important subjects, I find that you can make entertaining movies by talking about serious subjects”he assured at a press conference, after the winners.
Spectators will not soon forget the scene of general seasickness, with deluges of vomit and excrement, during dinner on a sinking boat, or the battle of quotes between the captain, communist, and a Russian oligarch . “The whole jury was extremely shocked by this film”recognized the president of the jury, Vincent Lindon.
Wash away the “humiliations”
Beyond the Palme d’Or, the jury on which Rebecca Hall sat (Vicky Cristina Barcelona), the Indian Deepika Padukone, and the directors Asghar Farhadi and Ladj Ly, gave its second most prestigious distinction (Grand Prix) ex aequo to the Frenchwoman Claire Denis, 76, (Stars at Noon) but especially to a young talent, Lukas Dhont, 31 years old.
With Close, his second film, the Belgian tackles questions of identity and the weight of masculinity with sensitivity, and reveals an actor, Eden Dambrine, 15, on stage alongside him. The latter saw the interpretation prize escape him, in favor of the South Korean star Song Kang-ho, the father in Parasitethis time rewarded for The Good Stars from the Japanese Kore-eda.
On the women’s side, the jury singled out a courageous journey marked by “humiliations”that of the Iranian Zar Amir Ebrahimi, for her role as a journalist investigating the murders of prostitutes committed in the name of God, in the thriller Nights of Mashhad.
“This film is about women, about their bodies. It’s a film full of hate, hands, feet, breasts, sex, everything that is impossible to show in Iran.said the one who saw her career in Iran brutally interrupted because of a sex scandal, which prompted her to leave her country for France.
Belgium in the foreground
Belgium is one of the winners of the Festival: in addition to Lukas Dhont, the Dardenne brothers, champions of social cinema, received a special Prize for this 75e anniversary edition, for Tori and Lokitaa social drama about young exiles, and the Flemish couple Charlotte Vandermeersch and Felix van Groeningen (The Eight Mountains) receives the Jury Prize, ex aequo with the UFO of the competition, EO (« There are ” ), animalist manifesto on a donkey, directed by a figure of Polish cinema, Jerzy Skolimowski.
And if the war in Ukraine was not forgotten during this Festival, opened with a message of resistance addressed, from kyiv, by the Ukrainian president Zelensky, and which programmed several Ukrainian filmmakers, the Russian Kirill Serebrennikov left empty-handed . Having become the standard-bearer of Russian art in exile, the filmmaker breaking with the regime had for the first time been able to travel to the Croisette to personally defend one of his films in competition, Tchaikovsky’s Wife.
Out of competition, the Festival also wanted to make the public dream by inviting the mega star Tom Cruise, who came to present the new Top Gun, and the new darling of Hollywood, Austin Butler, in the role of Elvis Presley for the event biopic of “The King”. Two films on which the cinema industry is counting on to bring the crowds back to theaters, after two years of health crisis.
The complete prize list of the 75th Cannes Film Festival
- The Palme d’Or is attributed to the Swedish director Ruben Östlund for Triangle of Sadness (Without filter) ;
- Le Grand Prize is attributed ex aequo to Closedu Belge Lukas Dhont et stars at noonby Frenchwoman Claire Denis;
- Le Special price of this 75e edition of the Cannes Film Festival is awarded to Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne for Tori and Lokita ;
- Le Staging Award is attributed to South Korean director Park Chan-wook for Decision to Leave ;
- Le Jury Prize is attributed ex aequo to The Eight Mountains (The Eight Mountains), the Charlotte Vandermeersch et Felix Van Groeningen, et Eo (Hi-Han) de Jerzy Skolimowski;
- Le Script Award is attributed to the Swedish Tarik Saleh for Boy from Heaven ;
- Le Best Actor Award is attributed to Song Kang-ho, starring in the Japanese film The Good Starsde Hirokazu Kore-eda
- Le Best Actress Award is attributed to Iranian Zar Amir Ebrahimi, starring in the film Holy Spiderd’Ali Abbasi;
- The golden camera is attributed to the American film War Ponyby Riley Keough and Gina Gammell;
- The special mention of the Camera d’or is attributed to Plan 75by Japanese director Hayakawa Chie;
- The Short Film Palme d’Or is attributed to Hai Bian Sheng Qi Yi Zuo Xuan Ya (The Water Murmurs), de la Chinoise Jianying Chen.