That's yer lot
Right, Cannes is over bar the shouting so I’m off. Head over to Guardian film shortly for Peter Bradshaw’s take on this year’s winners and for a gallery of the best red-carpet action. And congratulations to Mr Östlund and The Square. Au revoir!
What happened to Netflix?
Netflix hogged many of the headlines at Cannes, but left the Croisette empty-handed, with neither Okja or The Meyerowitz Stories picking up a major award. That perhaps unsurprising, given that Pedro Almodovar was very critical of the streaming giant at the festival’s opening press conference.
It will be interesting to see whether Netflix bothers turning up next year; Cannes have changed the rules for 2018 onward, meaning that a film has to have a release in French cinemas for competition, and Netflix are enormously resistant to French theatrical releases. Here’s a bit more info on the spat:
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Another element to consider in regard to The Square’s win: Elisabeth Moss is having one hell of a year. She’s currently starring in The Handmaid’s Tale (starting right now on Channel 4!), and has another series of Top of the Lake coming out later this year. I got to watch some of the latter at Cannes this week, and loved it:
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As for Will Smith, he “absolutely loves” Jupiter’s Moon, Kornél Mundruczó’s fantastical allegory about a refugee who can fly.
“I thought it was fantastic. I will watch it again and again.”
“Sometimes democracy sucks”, he adds when someone asks why it didn’t win a prize.
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Pedro gets emotional while talking about 120 Beats Per Minute and the importance of LGBT filmmaking, and gets a round of applause in response. “I can’t love it more”, he says of the film. I suspect it was his choice for the Palme.
Here’s the Guardian’s news story on The Square’s surprise victory:
I think it was a pretty great choice for the Palme, on reflection. Daring, unsettling and irreverent, which is a quality that you can’t really attribute to the past couple of winners.
“A couple of black folks won’t hurt things next year”, adds Will Smith. He’s completely right – this was a lineup almost entirely lacking in minority voices.
Jessica Chastain says that it was “disturbing” to see how female characters were depicted in the films in the Official Selection. She says that we need female storytellers to create more authentic female characters.
In a recent interview with the Guardian Chastain lamented the lack not only of female directors in the industry, but of female critics.
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The jury is asked whether the process was easy or not.
“It was relatively easy. I was just trying to get Pedro to stop offering me sexual favours for my vote,” says Will Smith, who is clearly trying to out-Sutherland Sutherland here.
The Jury press conference is just about to get underway. We’ll hear from all eight jury members, plus president Pedro Almodovar.
Last year’s Jury press conference was notable for a deeply odd performance from Donald Sutherland. I’m hoping for similar here, ideally from Will Smith.
The failure of Lynne Ramsay or Sofia Coppola to win the top prize means that Jane Campion remains the only female director to win the Palme in the 70 years of the festival.
Campion addressed the issue in an interview with Vulture earlier this week, and let’s just say she didn’t mince her words:
“Too long! Twenty-four years! And before that, there was no one. It’s insane. And I’m really annoyed that the director-ess from Toni Erdmann didn’t win last time. I thought, ‘Finally, a buddy’. No. No! There’s no more guys winning. That’s it. It’s just going to be women winning from now on.”
Here’s what Twitter’s great and good are saying about The Square on Twitter. General consensus seems to be that it was a decent enough choice for the top prize, but could have done with a bit of a trim (it is rather long at two hours and 20 minutes):
Surprise! Ruben Ostlund's The Square wins @Festival_Cannes Palme d'Or. I quite liked it, but along with many critics felt it needed an edit.
— Anne Thompson (@akstanwyck) May 28, 2017
There's a *great* film somewhere inside THE SQUARE, but the good one we get is the most fight-about-it-over-dinner Palme winner in ages: so.
— Tim Robey (@trim_obey) May 28, 2017
Well, I certainly thought THE SQUARE was good and I had a blast watching it, but 120 BPM was the palme of my heart. #Cannes2017
— Caspar Salmon (@CasparSalmon) May 28, 2017
Palme d'Or to... THE SQUARE. Very good movie, definitely a contender. But we were promised surprises, Pedro!!
— Bilge Ebiri (@BilgeEbiri) May 28, 2017
Here’s what Peter Bradshaw made of The Square:
Östlund may have been inspired by Roy Andersson or maybe Lars Von Trier. There is a drop of Buñuel there too – but Östlund’s own signature is plain. This is high wire cinema.
Ruben Östlund’s acerbic satire of the art world wins the big prize. It’s a gloriously odd and very funny film, but I must admit I didn’t see it winning the Palme.
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The Palme d'Or goes to...
The Square!!!!
Kidman, who has appeared in no less than three films and a TV show in Cannes, has already headed home, so Will Smith is jokingly accepting the award on his behalf.
Oh, no she’s pre-recorded a message, on what looks like a cameraphone. She’s gutted not to be there, etc etc
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Another Pedro surprise!
A 70th Anniversary Jury Prize has been invented on the fly. It’s won by... Nicole Kidman.
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Which film is going to win the Palme then? I’ve genuinely no idea at this stage. Might Haneke get a record-breaking fourth Palme for Happy End? Could Sergei Loznitsa’s widely admired A Gentle Creature steal it?
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Grand Prix
120 Beats Per Minute! Widely tipped to win the Palme, but has to be satisfied with second prize.
Best Director
Sofia Coppola for the Beguiled! Some surprising groans at that news in the press room.
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If Best Actress was seen as an underwhelming race this year, Best Actor was formidably competitive. It’s difficult to quibble with Joaquin’s performance, though I would have loved to have seen Robert Pattinson rewarded for his intense turn in Good Time.
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Joaquin’s wearing what look suspiciously like Converse trainers. He didn’t get the Cannes heels memo, clearly.
Best Actor
Joaquin Phoenix wins for You Were Never Really Here!
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Best Actress
Irene Jacob and Paolo Sorrentino hand out the best actress gong, which goes to... Diane Kruger for her performance in Fatih Akin’s In the Fade! Not a particularly well-received film amongst the critics, but she was the best thing about it.
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Jury Prize
Andrey Zvyagintsev wins the Jury Prize for Loveless. It’s not the one he wanted, or that many were expecting for the film.
Richly deserved award for Lynne Ramsay, and particularly impressive given that she was still editing the film right up to the first press screening on Friday!
Best Screenplay
“We have our first surprise of the night”, announces Pedro. Best screenplay is a joint award for A Killing of a Sacred Deer and Lynne Ramsay’s You Were Never Really Here.
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Crikey, they don’t mess about at Cannes, do they? We’re already onto the main Competition awards. Pedro has just introduced the other jury members in a slightly X-Factor-y manner. They’re reclining on a sofa area that looks vaguely like the VIP section of a Swansea nightclub.
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Next up, the Short Film award, hosted by Uma Thurman and Cristian Mungiu.
Qiu Yang’s A Gentle Night wins the gong, which causes the Chinese members of the Cannes press room to whoop heartily. “Fucking amazing,” is Qiu’s own response.
Camera d'Or
The Camera d’Or award for best debut film goes to Léonor Sérraille’s Jeune Femme (Montparnasse Bienvenue).
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We're underway!
Monica Bellucci is delivering the opening speech. At the moment she’s just reeling off a very long list of Cannes favourite directors and actors over its 70 years.
Peter's Predictions
The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw has dusted off his crystal ball/glowing Saudi Arabian orb and has made some predictions for tonight’s awards. He’s gone for Loveless for the Palme, though that was before all the red carpet rumours started swirling.
Red Carpet Watch
The Cannes red carpet is predictably swarming with famous folk, all looking as glamorous as you’d expect. We’ve just got a glimpse of this year’s Cannes Jury, which is headed up by 2017 president Pedro Almodóvar. Joining him are a motley crew of actors, directors, screenwriters and the impossible-to-categorise ball of enthusiasm known as Will Smith. Smith just gave his verdict on this year’s selection. “Spectacular,” he said, before legging it to avoid having to talk to the incredibly annoying Canal+ red carpet interviewer man for a second longer.
But what about this year’s competitors? Usually you can make some fairly solid assumptions about who’s won what by looking at the attendees and no-shows on the red carpet. So far we’ve seen Lynne Ramsay and co for her bruising thriller You Were Never Really Here, and the cast of 120 Beats per Minute, but my colleague Andrew Pulver has pointed out that there doesn’t seem to have been any sign of Andrey Zvyagintsev and the cast of Loveless, which might suggest that the film has been snubbed.
Juicy rumour alert:
All clues point to 120 BATTEMENTS PAR MINUTE (BPM) for Pame d'Or. Dir Robin Campillo & cast have been called back to #Cannes2017 for awards.
— Peter Debruge (@AskDebruge) May 28, 2017
You're all winners
It’s not just the Palme that will be handed out this eve, of course. There’s also a host of slightly-less-important-but-still-pretty-significant awards to be doled out beforehand, including Best Director, Best Actor and Actress, the Jury Prize and the Grand Prix.
Let’s not forget the gongs that have already been given out. In the Un Certain Regard section of the festival, Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof’s A Man of Integrity won the top prize, April’s Daughter by Spanish filmmaker Michel Franco won the Jury prize, Mathieu Amalric’s Barbara won the evocatively titled Prize for the Best Poetic Narrative, Jasmine Trinca took home Best Actress for her turn in Sergio Castellitto’s Fortunata and Taylor Sheridan won Best Director for Wind River.
The Fipresci (the International Federation of Film Critics) prizes have also been doled out, with 120 Beats per Minute nabbing Best Film. The same film, perhaps unsurprisingly, also took home the Queer Palm.
And let’s not forget the most prestigious award of the lot: the Palm Dog. That went to Bruno, the lovably dishevelled poodle from Noah Baumbach’s The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected). Well done all.
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Bonsoir!
After a fortnight of fun, films and al fresco dining, the 70th Cannes film festival is winding down, though not before we find out which of the 19 films in the Official Competition will be strolling off into the sunset with the Palme d’Or. It looks a wide-open race, lacking an out-and-out favourite.
Perhaps the most critically acclaimed of this year’s selection is the austere Russian drama Loveless, directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev. A devastating tale of a young boy’s disappearance amid a bruising divorce, the film was awarded a full five stars by the Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw, who also has tipped it to win the Palme. Zvyagintsev’s last film Leviathan was tipped for the top award in 2014, but in the end only took home Best Screenplay, so there might be a sense that the director is due the big gong this time around.
Also considered a favourite is Robin Campillo’s 120 Beats per Minute, which has received widespread acclaim for its portrait of the Aids-awareness direct-action group Act Up. It’s a sharply told yet affecting work, and given the fact that socially conscious fare has dominated the Palme in the last two years – Jacques Audiard’s Dheepan, and Ken Loach’s I, Daniel Blake – it certainly shouldn’t be ruled out.
Finally, for those after a dark horse, Sofia Coppola’s The Beguiled looks an intriguing option. It’s a wonderfully mordant Southern Gothic melodrama, with great performances from Nicole Kidman, Colin Farrell and Kirsten Dunst. Only one female director has won the Palme in Cannes history - Jane Campion for the Piano – so it might feel like time to finally redress that imbalance.
The ceremony begins at 7.15pm local time (6.15pm BST).
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