“Palme d’Or” was received by the opponent of pension reform

Director Justine Trie turned out to be decisive: +criticized the government

The 76th Cannes Film Festival ended with the victory of the film “Anatomy of a Fall” by Frenchwoman Justine Trie. A jury of new generation filmmakers, led by two-time winner of the Palme d’Or, Swedish director Ruben Östlund, delivered a verdict in line with the spirit of the times and the feminist agenda.

The award was presented by the oldest American actress Jane Fonda, who recalled Cannes in 1963: “Many of you were not even born then. At that time, there was not a single female director in the competition, but it never occurred to us that there was something wrong with this. Since then we have moved forward. For the first time, seven female directors are participating in the competition.”

For the third time in the long history of the world’s main festival, the Palme d’Or was in the hands of a woman. For a long time, the exception in the dense male fraternity was Jane Campion, a really powerful director from New Zealand, who received an award in 1993 for The Piano. On the wave of MeToo, two years ago, the Frenchwoman Julia Ducorneau, who is now part of the jury, won with Titan. And here is the third Golden Palm. Receiving the award, Justine Triet temperamentally spoke out about the pension reform in France, the truncation of cultural programs by the government. She noticed that Cannes is a territory of freedom, where you can honestly express your point of view. “In a difficult year for France, I cannot remain silent. We survived a pandemic that lasted two years. Now there is a wave of protests related to pension reform, and they are suppressed. A lot of problems have accumulated in the cinema. The government does not oppose the mechanization of culture, thereby destroying its national identity. I dedicate the award to all young directors, to all those who cannot make films under the circumstances. And they should be able to work, making mistakes and trying their hand again, as it was with me 15 years ago, when the environment for creativity was more favorable.” Trieu’s speech, as it turned out later, made a strong impression on the French Minister of Culture, 44-year-old Mrs. Rima Abdul-Malak, who, by the way, has citizenship not only of France, but also of Lebanon. The words of the laureate came as a complete surprise to her.

Justine Triet is no stranger to Cannes. In 2019, she presented her film The Temptation in the main competition. Anatomy of a Fall stars the amazing German actress Sandra Hüller, star of the relatively recent award-winning Toni Erdmann. Her heroine is suspected of being involved in the death of her husband, who fell out of the window. The widow had an 11-year-old visually impaired son in her arms. And now time seems to be scrolling back – what happened in a writer’s family, where the wife is more successful than her husband. Many predicted Sandra Hüller an award – if not at Trie, then in another competitive film, “Zone of Interest” by British director Jonathan Glaser, which tells about the well-being of the family of Auschwitz concentration camp commandant Rudolf Hösse. Their cozy house is located next to the death camp, where the crematorium is constantly working and the Jews are being exterminated. The gardener grows flowers, vegetables ripen in the beds. The wife and five children of the fiend live in joy and peace. The picture received the Grand Prix, and it was staged based on the novel by Martin Amis, who died on May 19, on the day of the Cannes premiere of the film.

The Finnish classic Aki Kaurismäki, who never loses his form and who was in the lead in the rating of Screen magazine’s experts, was awarded the Jury Prize for “Dead Leaves”. He did not come to receive the award, which was to be expected. Once again, the Palme d’Or bypassed the outstanding cinematographer of our time. Kaurismäki takes it hard and has once been tipsy on the red carpet and put on a show that eyewitnesses will never forget. His new picture is about a couple who met by chance in the night in Helsinki, ordinary and not the happiest people. They meet to the music of Tchaikovsky and radio messages about the situation in Mariupol. In “Dead Leaves” the dog Kaurismaki Bijou was filmed, she is also Chaplin. She didn’t get the Palm Dog either. There is a tradition in Cannes – shortly before the final awards, to present prizes to dogs who have acted in films. Chaplin got the second most important prize. And the border collie Snoop from the same Anatomy of the Fall, Justine Trie, who was the guide of the visually impaired boy, won.

The most talented French director of Vietnamese origin, Tran Anh Hung, known for the films Cycle Rickshaw, The Flavor of Green Papaya, Norwegian Wood, who now presented Doden Buffan’s Stew, was awarded for the best director. The screenplay was awarded to Yuji Sakamoto for Hirokazu Kore-eda’s “Monster” about bullying at school, a difficult relationship between a child and a teacher. A monster is a game that children play, it is someone who is always there on a mental level in Japan. Europeans do not understand this.

Acting awards went to 67-year-old Japanese actor Koji Yakusho, who played a Tokyo public toilet cleaner, music and book lover in Perfect Days by German classic and Japanese fan Wim Wenders, and Turkish actress Merve Dizdar for her role as a country teacher in About Dry herbs” by Nuri Bilge Ceylan. The choice of the actress surprised many, because there were stronger contenders.