But which films will appoint Ruben Östlund and his Cannes Film Festival jury? They may have so much trouble deciding between the 21 very good feature films in competition that I wanted to give them a hand. By sharpening my arguments in order to defend my favorites in front of the jury, as if I had been chosen to be part of it.
My Palme d’Or: “Perfect Days” by Wim Wenders
By teasing, I first plan to persuade Ruben Östlund that The Old Oak by Ken Loach, a fable about a pub owner taking up the cause of migrants, is the film that most deserves the Palme d’Or. But Ken Loach has already had two (just like Ruben Östlund). I can’t imagine the president accepting another filmmaker overtaking him. I give up and that all the more so as I have another great favorite.
I shout loud and clear my total love for Perfect Days, Wim Wenders’ great return to fiction with the portrait of a solitary municipal employee in charge of cleaning Tokyo’s toilets, a humble man who loves trees and literature. Koji Yakusho is moving in this contemplative film, certainly, but never boring, of a sobriety and an admirable poetry worthy of Yasujirō Ozu to which Wim Wernders had already paid homage in Tokyo Ga. Just an ode to the little things that make the salt of life and one of the most beautiful end shots in the history of cinema. As Wim Wenders has only one Palme d’or on the clock for ParisTexas in 1984, he would not overshadow the president of the jury.
Grand Jury Prize: “The Zone Of Interest” by Jonathan Glazer
This is the shock film of the festival: The Zone of Interest by Jonathan Glazer, director of Under The Skin, reveals in the most clinical way possible the petty bourgeois life of Rudolph Höss, commander of the Auschwitz concentration camp. How to encourage at the same time a diligent application of the final solution while maintaining the garden of his pavilion located on the outskirts of the camp? Rarely has the banality of evil committed by ordinary people been so well captured. Especially since the violence always remains off-screen.
Best Director Award: Kahouter Ben Hania for “Les Filles d’Olfa”
The dizzying mise-en-abîme offered by Kahouter Ben Hania in Olfa’s Daughters demonstrates as much mastery as talent. The director of Beauty and the pack mixes documentary and fiction, reality and reconstruction, in an original way to talk about Islamic radicalism, rebellion and the lives of Tunisian women. Kahouter Ben Hania brings together in her film the authentic protagonist of this true story, a mother whose two daughters joined the Islamic State in Libya, with actresses who help her tell her story.
Best Actress Award: Sandra Hüller in “Anatomy of a Fall”
This German actress, already appreciated in Toni Erdmanis again remarkable in Anatomy of a fall by Justine Triet where she plays a woman suspected of having pushed her husband out of the window. She sculpts her character like a block of ice that cracks when her private life comes to light. It is also Sandra Hüller who plays the wife of the concentration camp director in The Zone of Interest, bourgeois pleasure choosing to ignore the ignominy behind the walls of her pavilion. Sandra Huller is perfect in both films. Cannes 2023 is his year.
Best Actor Award: Jude Law for “Firebrands: The Queen’s Game”
He scares Jude Law in Firebrands: The Queen’s Game by Karim Ainouz. He plays an obese King Henry VIII, narcissistic pervert and domestic tyrant persecuting his sixth wife played by Alicia Vikander. His poisonous power as an omnipotent ruler is astounding. He is so far from the charming characters that are his trademark that he deserves a prize! (Koji Yakusho for Perfect Days too, but I’ve already convinced the jury to give the film the Palme d’Or, so I won’t insist.)
Screenplay Prize: Aki Kaurismäki for “The Dead Leaves”
The Finnish director signs a particularly touching romantic comedy, because it is not gnangnan. The meeting of two loners who are struggling to unite their distresses does not contain a gram of sentimentality. Dead leaves is more invigorating than a Hollywood “feel good movie”, this well-told story is truly heart-warming. It’s beautiful and tender in all simplicity. Writing such a stripped-down script doesn’t seem like much, but sobriety is a difficult art to master and Aki Kaurismäki is a past master in this field.
See you this Saturday, May 27 from 8:30 p.m. on France 2, or live on 20Minutes.fr, to find out if I managed to convince the jury and if my winners are the right ones.