What a pleasant surprise to see Julia Ducournau win the Palme d’Or for Titanium ! The director is the second woman (after Jane Campion for The Piano Lesson in 1993 who had received it ex aequo with Chen Kaige and Goodbye my concubine) and the first Frenchwoman to win the precious trophy. “We are happy that the Palm has been awarded to a woman,” added Jessica Hausner, director of the film. Little joe and jury member, but this was never taken into account in our discussions. “
And not for just any woman! She is only 37 years old. And only two films to his credit. Discovered by Critics’ Week for Serious in 2016, in cannibalistic tale, the filmmaker signs here the portrait of a psychopath embodied by Agathe Rousselle, magnetic revelation of a disturbing film. “I am delighted to see Titanium crowned because genre cinema is too often underestimated, ”said Mylène Farmer, another member of the jury.
Clivorous even for the jury
Spike Lee and his jury obviously struggled to come to an agreement as they revealed during the press conference given just after the prize list. “We had twenty-four films but not twenty-four awards,” said Spike Lee. We knew we had to achieve a result. So we talked, with passion, but without ever shouting. It was very respectful. “Not enthusiastic Mr. President who has, all the same confessed concerning the character that Agathe Rousselle plays in Titanium : “It was the first time that I saw a woman get pregnant by a Cadillac. “
A few minutes earlier, the filmmaker, very moved between his actress Agathe Rousselle and the other star of the film Vincent Lindon, thanked the jury for “recognizing the visceral need that we have for a more inclusive and more fluid world and to have let in the monsters ”. The filmmaker, from La Fémis, had signed several short films before Grave. “I don’t like creepy films” she confided to 20 minutes at the time of the release of this first feature. Titanium is not creepy. It is a very beautiful monster that we can already discover indoors.