We can’t believe it: The seeds of the wild fig tree by Mahommad Rassoulov was knocked out of the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival by Anora by Sean Baker. The Iranian film is satisfied with a special prize, almost an accessit.
Greta Gerwig’s jury preferred a comedy full of fantasy to a more serious fable describing life in Iran, a talented New York filmmaker to a director on the run and threatened with death. However, it would be unfair to reduce Mohammad Rasoulof’s film to its political context; it is a strong work which deserved more than a symbolic prize by showing the disintegration of a family in Teharan against a backdrop of riots.
Choose with the heart
The strong successful Anora has its place in the prize list but the Palme d’Or still seems a little exaggerated. “We let our hearts speak,” Greta Gerwig said at the press conference. The method caused surprise in the end. We are disappointed for The Substance by Coralie Fargeat, only the screenplay was rewarded while the direction of the film is brilliant. On the other hand, we are delighted for the actresses and the crowning jury prize Emilia Pérez by Jacques Audiard, one of our favorites. This musical comedy which tells the story of a drug trafficker who finally blossoms by becoming the woman he has always been is a marvel.
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Intense surprise to see Jesse Plemons noticed in Kinds of Kindness by Yorgos Lanthimos. However, he is excellent in this sketch film where he metamorphoses to play very different characters in wacky stories.
All We Imagine As Light by Payal Kapadia, a portrait of two Indian women in search of pleasure, did not steal its Grand Prix by showing a little-known aspect of current India. As for Grand Tour by Manuel Gomes, winner of the director’s prize, this journey of a woman in pursuit of her fiancé flirts with experimental cinema. It can fascinate or stun.
This surprising list of winners, less committed than expected, testifies to the eclectic tastes of a jury visibly united in its decisions whose subjectivity we can only respect.