Award
Justine Triet wins the Palme d’Or in Cannes
Sandra Hüller (l), actress from Germany, and Justine Triet, director from France. photo
© Scott Garfitt/Invision/AP/dpa
In the film by the French director, Sandra Hüller plays an author who has to answer in court after the death of her husband. Justine Triet is only the third woman to win the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival.
French director Justine Triet won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival for her film “Anatomy of a Fall”. This was announced by the jury in the evening. The film prevailed against 20 other competition films. A jury chaired by last year’s winner Ruben Östlund made the decision.
In “Anatomy of a Fall” an author (Sandra Hüller) has to answer in court after the death of her husband. She is suspected of having killed him – but the case is not clear and there are no witnesses. The couple have a blind boy who is believed to be out of the home at the time of the incident. The psychological justice drama is not primarily about clarifying what happened. Instead, it’s about the line between fiction and reality and the failure of a marriage. Huller plays an opaque woman with many facets.
Triet is only the third woman to win the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival. The festival took place for the 76th time this year. US actress Jane Fonda presented the director with the award on stage. And said: “For the first time, there are seven female directors in the competition. That’s historic.”
Triet criticizes “scheme of a ruling power”
In her speech, 44-year-old Triet defended the protests against the pension reform in France. After thanking the cast and crew, she noted the “historic, extremely powerful, unanimous challenges” to pension reform that were “shockingly denied and suppressed” and criticized “this scheme of a ruling power that is becoming ever more relaxed “.
The Grand Jury Prize, the festival’s second most important award, went to British director Jonathan Glazer for “The Zone of Interest”, a German-language drama also starring Sandra Hüller and Christian Friedel. The best director award went to Frenchman Tran Anh Hung for “La Passion de Dodin Bouffant” (English title “The Pot-au-Feu”).
Turkish actress Merve Dizdar accepted the award for best actress. She embodies a teacher in “About Dry Grasses” by Nuri Bilge Ceylan. The Japanese Koji Yakusho was honored as best actor for his role in Wim Wenders’ “Perfect Days”.
The Jury Prize was awarded to Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki for Fallen Leaves. Yuji Sakamoto was honored with the best screenplay award for Hirokazu Koreeda’s film “Monster”.