With a jury of the official section presided over by the Swedish director Ruben Östlund, who last year won his second Palme d'Or for the satire El Triángulo de la tristeza, in this 76th edition of the Cannes Festival it was expected with anticipation a prize that yesterday distinguished with the Palme d'Or Anatomía de una caída, by Justine Triet. The French filmmaker is the third woman to achieve the highest distinction of the prestigious competition, after Jane Campion for El piano (1993) and Julia Ducournau, a member of the jury this year and a compatriot who achieved it two editions ago for Titane.
It is a thriller that portrays the intense trial of a woman (wonderful Sandra Hüller) accused of the death of her husband, who appears lifeless outside her chalet in the Alps. Under an endless shower of applause, Triet excitedly received the award given to her by Jane Fonda and took the opportunity to criticize the French Government for its pension reform. "This path of domineering power is increasingly brazen", said the filmmaker, who dedicated the award to the young filmmakers and "to all those who cannot film now". And that they don't have a space "that I occupied 15 years ago in a world that was less hostile and that allowed us to think that it was possible to make a mistake", he said in a very vindictive speech.
The film of the gala director was one of the favorites along with Jonathan Glazer's Zone of Interest. The fourth feature film of the British filmmaker, author of Sexy beast, Reincarnación and the cult film Under the skin, was awarded the great prize of the Audience, prior to the appearance of Quentin Tarantino and a Roger Corman who at the age of 97 received a warm reception by part of the public. The film was one of those that had the most impact on the press for its chilling portrayal of the Holocaust through a Nazi family that lives pleasantly just a few meters from a fence that separates them from the horror. experienced by Jewish prisoners in Auschwitz.
And all this without showing violence or suffering. Hell is represented in the film with shrill sounds, distant shots and scenes in which you can see the chimney of the crematorium. The prize for La zona de interés, distributed by A24, is also a tribute to the writer Martin Amis, author of the homonymous novel on which Glazer was based and who curiously died on Saturday at the age of 73, a day after of the film screening. The film has also been recognized by the Fipresci critics' prize.
Another of the tapes that were in good position in the crossbars was Fallen leaves, by the Finnish Aki Kaurismäki. This atypical love story under the shadow of the war in Ukraine and with nods to Chaplin's cinema won the Jury Prize. The director was not present at the closing gala presented by an elegant Chiara Mastroianni and, in his place, the protagonists of the film took the stage. The Vietnamese Trans Ahn Hung was distinguished as best director for his exquisite direction of The Pot au Feu, a gastronomic story set in the 19th century with Juliette Binoche and Benoit Magimel. Sakamoto Yuji won for best screenplay for Monster, by Hirokazu Kore-eda. The screenwriter also did not go to the ceremony and instead the Japanese director, who has directed a story that revolves around childhood, homosexuality and lies, collected the award.
In the performance categories, Japan's Koji Yakusho won best actor for his emotional role as a man who works meticulously cleaning toilets in Tokyo parks in Wim Wenders' Perfect days. The German director could not hide his tears with the award to this veteran actor, who started as a favorite in the cross-sections. Best actress went to Merve Dizdar by surprise for About Dry Grasses, by the Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan, a story about good and evil, the inconsistencies of the human being and isolation and its effects on the people.
27 , by Flora Ana Buda, won the award for best short film and the Vietnamese Pham Thien An won the Golden Camera with L'arbre aux papillons d'or. For its part, How to have sex, the first work of the British Molly Manning Walker, was placed as the best film in the Una Certa Mirada section. While the Malaysian Tiger Stripes, by Amanda Nell Eu, triumphed in Critics' Week. It should be remembered that a few days ago the victory of Creature, by the Catalan filmmaker and actress Elena Martín Gimeno, was announced as the best European film of the Filmmakers' Fortnight.
