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Cannes Film Festival: Lesbian drama wins Palme d'Or | Cannes Film Festival: Lesbian drama wins Palme d'Or |
(35 minutes later) | |
Blue is the Warmest Colour, an intimate love story about two young French women, has won the Palme d'Or for best film at the Cannes Film Festival. | Blue is the Warmest Colour, an intimate love story about two young French women, has won the Palme d'Or for best film at the Cannes Film Festival. |
It has attracted attention for its explicit sex scenes as well as the acclaimed performances of actresses Adele Exarchopoulos and Lea Seydoux. | It has attracted attention for its explicit sex scenes as well as the acclaimed performances of actresses Adele Exarchopoulos and Lea Seydoux. |
Hollywood veteran Bruce Dern won best actor for his performance in Nebraska. | Hollywood veteran Bruce Dern won best actor for his performance in Nebraska. |
And French star Berenice Bejo, known for silent film The Artist, won best actress for her role in The Past. | |
The winners were picked from the 20 films in competition and were named at the festival's closing ceremony on Sunday. | |
Blue is the Warmest Colour is a three-hour coming-of-age movie in which Exarchopoulos plays a 15-year-old who falls in love with an older woman, played by Seydoux. | |
Directed by Abdellatif Kechiche, it won rave reviews in Cannes, being described as "epic yet intimate" by The Guardian. | |
But it also shocked some critics. Variety magazine said it contained "the most explosively graphic lesbian sex scenes in recent memory". | But it also shocked some critics. Variety magazine said it contained "the most explosively graphic lesbian sex scenes in recent memory". |
The Hollywood Reporter said the "sprawling drama" would "raise eyebrows" as it crossed the barrier "between performance and the real deal". | The Hollywood Reporter said the "sprawling drama" would "raise eyebrows" as it crossed the barrier "between performance and the real deal". |
Some had questioned whether the sex scenes may make it too explicit for the top prize. | |
But director Steven Spielberg, who chaired the jury, told reporters: "I think it will get a lot of play... I think this film carries a very strong message, a very positive message." | |
In an unusual move, Spielberg awarded the prize to the two lead actresses as well as the director. | |
Accepting the prize, Abdellatif Kechiche said: "I should like to dedicate this film to the wonderful youth of France whom I met during the long period while making this film. | |
"Those young people taught me a lot about the spirit of freedom and living together." | |
Blue is the Warmest Colour prevented US film-makers the Coen brothers from repeating their Palme d'Or success of 1991, when they won for Barton Fink. | Blue is the Warmest Colour prevented US film-makers the Coen brothers from repeating their Palme d'Or success of 1991, when they won for Barton Fink. |
Their latest film Inside Llewyn Davis, about the 1960s New York folk scene, won this year's Grand Prix, effectively the runners-up prize. | Their latest film Inside Llewyn Davis, about the 1960s New York folk scene, won this year's Grand Prix, effectively the runners-up prize. |
The best actor award marks a return to the critical bosom for Bruce Dern, who is best known for roles in 1970s films including Coming Home, The Cowboys and The Great Gatsby. | |
Now 76, he has won for playing an ageing, alcoholic father on a road trip to collect a lottery prize. The film, titled Nebraska, was directed by Sideways and The Descendants film-maker Alexander Payne. | |
Berenice Bejo's best actress prize has proved that her performance in The Artist was not a one-off. Her film The Past is a family drama made by Iranian director Asghar Farhadi as the follow-up to his Oscar-nominated 2011 drama A Separation. | |
Mexico's Amat Escalante, who made brutal drama Heli about the country's drugs war, was something of a surprise choice for best director. | |
China's Jia Zhangke won best screenplay for A Touch of Sin, an examination of rampant corruption in his country. | |
The Jury Prize went to Like Father, Like Son, about two families who discover that their six-year-old boys were switched at birth, directed by Japan's Hirokazu Kore-eda. | |
Films that missed out included Behind the Candelabra, in which Michael Douglas plays the legendarily flamboyant entertainer Liberace, and Italian director Paolo Sorrentino's The Great Beauty, a sumptuous story about an ageing novelist. | |
Spielberg was joined on the jury by Life of Pi director Ang Lee, actress Nicole Kidman and Oscar-winner Christoph Waltz. | |
The other judges were We Need To Talk About Kevin film-maker Lynne Ramsay, French actor Daniel Auteuil, Romanian director Cristian Mungiu, Japanese director Naomi Kawase and Bollywood star Vidya Balan. | The other judges were We Need To Talk About Kevin film-maker Lynne Ramsay, French actor Daniel Auteuil, Romanian director Cristian Mungiu, Japanese director Naomi Kawase and Bollywood star Vidya Balan. |