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Top honor at Cannes goes to story of Sri Lankan immigrants in France Top honor at Cannes goes to story of Sri Lankan immigrants in France
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“Dheepan,” the simple but deeply affecting story of Sri Lankan immigrants trying to build family ties and a new life in France, won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival on Sunday.“Dheepan,” the simple but deeply affecting story of Sri Lankan immigrants trying to build family ties and a new life in France, won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival on Sunday.
The win for the Jacques Audiard ­directed film was something of a surprise in a competition that featured few genuinely standout films. “Carol,” Todd Haynes’s adaptation of a Patricia Highsmith novel, was considered a front-runner, having won over critics when it premiered at the festival last weekend. The only award the film took home was Rooney Mara’s honor for best actress, which she shared with the French actress Emmanuelle Bercot, who co-starred in the drama “Mon Roi.”The win for the Jacques Audiard ­directed film was something of a surprise in a competition that featured few genuinely standout films. “Carol,” Todd Haynes’s adaptation of a Patricia Highsmith novel, was considered a front-runner, having won over critics when it premiered at the festival last weekend. The only award the film took home was Rooney Mara’s honor for best actress, which she shared with the French actress Emmanuelle Bercot, who co-starred in the drama “Mon Roi.”
It’s significant that Mara and Bercot won for similar roles: Each actress played a woman consumed by passion, in Mara’s case an aspiring photographer in 1950s New York who falls in love with a suburban housewife (Cate Blanchett). Bercot portrayed a woman trying to break free of an obsession with a man who routinely abandons her during times of need.It’s significant that Mara and Bercot won for similar roles: Each actress played a woman consumed by passion, in Mara’s case an aspiring photographer in 1950s New York who falls in love with a suburban housewife (Cate Blanchett). Bercot portrayed a woman trying to break free of an obsession with a man who routinely abandons her during times of need.
Bercot’s award also served as a tacit recognition of the cardinal theme of gender equity at Cannes this year: She directed the festival’s opening-night film, “La Tête Haute” (“Standing Tall”), the first time a female-directed movie opened the prestigious festival in several years; “Mon Roi” was also one of only two female-directed films to be selected for competition. (The continuing underrepresentation of women was exacerbated by a kerfuffle midway through the festival when overzealous security personnel reportedly barred two women from entering the Grand Theatre Lumiere for not wearing high heels.)Bercot’s award also served as a tacit recognition of the cardinal theme of gender equity at Cannes this year: She directed the festival’s opening-night film, “La Tête Haute” (“Standing Tall”), the first time a female-directed movie opened the prestigious festival in several years; “Mon Roi” was also one of only two female-directed films to be selected for competition. (The continuing underrepresentation of women was exacerbated by a kerfuffle midway through the festival when overzealous security personnel reportedly barred two women from entering the Grand Theatre Lumiere for not wearing high heels.)
Still, if women were scarce behind the camera, they showed up in full, if ambiguous, force in front of it. A number of films in and out of competition were female-driven stories, albeit ones in which women were either wives, mothers, pining lovers or other conventional archetypes.Still, if women were scarce behind the camera, they showed up in full, if ambiguous, force in front of it. A number of films in and out of competition were female-driven stories, albeit ones in which women were either wives, mothers, pining lovers or other conventional archetypes.
In the surreal (but ultimately inert) fable “Tale of Tales,” Salma Hayek played a mother of monstrous proportions. In the dramas “Louder Than Bombs” and “Valley of Love,” Isabelle Huppert played a mother who has died and one who’s mourning the death of her son, respectively.In the surreal (but ultimately inert) fable “Tale of Tales,” Salma Hayek played a mother of monstrous proportions. In the dramas “Louder Than Bombs” and “Valley of Love,” Isabelle Huppert played a mother who has died and one who’s mourning the death of her son, respectively.
Female agency got a jolt with the screening of “Mad Max: Fury Road,” in which Charlize Theron steals a movie that brims with post-apocalyptic feminism; the Taiwanese actress Shu Qi utters barely a word in the title role of “The Assassin,” Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s ravishing but soporific historical drama set in 9th-century China that earned Hou the festival’s prize for best director.Female agency got a jolt with the screening of “Mad Max: Fury Road,” in which Charlize Theron steals a movie that brims with post-apocalyptic feminism; the Taiwanese actress Shu Qi utters barely a word in the title role of “The Assassin,” Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s ravishing but soporific historical drama set in 9th-century China that earned Hou the festival’s prize for best director.
In fact, perhaps the most bracing portrait of womanhood wasn’t found in Cannes’s main competition at all, but in one of its sidebars, Directors’ Fortnight: There, a first-time director from Turkey, Deniz Gamze Erguven, delivered a bracing portrait of a young girl and her teenage sisters coming of age while defying the strictures of Muslim patriarchy in a remote seaside town. The film, “Mustang,” won the Fortnight’s Europa Cinemas Label for best European film.In fact, perhaps the most bracing portrait of womanhood wasn’t found in Cannes’s main competition at all, but in one of its sidebars, Directors’ Fortnight: There, a first-time director from Turkey, Deniz Gamze Erguven, delivered a bracing portrait of a young girl and her teenage sisters coming of age while defying the strictures of Muslim patriarchy in a remote seaside town. The film, “Mustang,” won the Fortnight’s Europa Cinemas Label for best European film.
“Mustang” represented an exhilarating respite from the dreary, downbeat and formally uninteresting movies that dominated Cannes this year, a large number of which possessed an elegiac, almost funereal tone of unresolved grief.“Mustang” represented an exhilarating respite from the dreary, downbeat and formally uninteresting movies that dominated Cannes this year, a large number of which possessed an elegiac, almost funereal tone of unresolved grief.
In addition to the lachrymose “Louder Than Bombs” and “Valley of Love,” audiences watched Michael Caine and Harvey Keitel grapple with impending old age in “Youth” (leavened by an audacious third-act appearance by a tough-talking Jane Fonda), yawned through Apitchatpong Weerasethakul’s impenetrable “Cemetery of Splendour,” enjoyed the scenery of Kore-eda Hirokazu’s pretty but arms-length family portrait “Umimachi Diary” (“Our Little Sister”) and booed outright at Gus Van Sant’s mawkish supernatural melodrama “The Sea of Trees.”In addition to the lachrymose “Louder Than Bombs” and “Valley of Love,” audiences watched Michael Caine and Harvey Keitel grapple with impending old age in “Youth” (leavened by an audacious third-act appearance by a tough-talking Jane Fonda), yawned through Apitchatpong Weerasethakul’s impenetrable “Cemetery of Splendour,” enjoyed the scenery of Kore-eda Hirokazu’s pretty but arms-length family portrait “Umimachi Diary” (“Our Little Sister”) and booed outright at Gus Van Sant’s mawkish supernatural melodrama “The Sea of Trees.”
The mood was so glum that it’s easy to see why some entries were wildly overpraised, including Yorgos Lanthimos’s “The Lobster,” an absurdist, futuristic comedy examining the stigmatization of singlehood that took the festival’s jury prize on Sunday.The mood was so glum that it’s easy to see why some entries were wildly overpraised, including Yorgos Lanthimos’s “The Lobster,” an absurdist, futuristic comedy examining the stigmatization of singlehood that took the festival’s jury prize on Sunday.
The arch tone and stylized humor of “The Lobster” dovetailed with the offbeat sensibilities of many members of this year’s jury, which was headed by Joel and Ethan Coen, and which included such iconoclasts as Guillermo del Toro, Xavier Dolan and the actress Rossy de Palma. Nevertheless, a number of the top prizes went to admirable but unremarkable — and notably French — dramas.The arch tone and stylized humor of “The Lobster” dovetailed with the offbeat sensibilities of many members of this year’s jury, which was headed by Joel and Ethan Coen, and which included such iconoclasts as Guillermo del Toro, Xavier Dolan and the actress Rossy de Palma. Nevertheless, a number of the top prizes went to admirable but unremarkable — and notably French — dramas.
Many critics who attended Cannes, this one included, thought the Palme d’Or was virtually guaranteed for a film that was both formally daring and narratively gripping: “Son of Saul,” an astonishing featured debut by the Hungarian director Laszlo Nemes.Many critics who attended Cannes, this one included, thought the Palme d’Or was virtually guaranteed for a film that was both formally daring and narratively gripping: “Son of Saul,” an astonishing featured debut by the Hungarian director Laszlo Nemes.
The harrowing story of a prisoner in Auschwitz who spends 36 hours trying to get a Jewish burial for the corpse of a young boy stars Geza Rohrig in a riveting performance made all the more galvanizing by the long, unbroken takes he thoroughly dominates throughout the film. Although Röhrig was an early favorite for the best actor prize, that honor was taken by Vincent Lindon for his role in “La Loi du Marché” (“The Measure of a Man”), about a man faced with a moral dilemma at his new job.The harrowing story of a prisoner in Auschwitz who spends 36 hours trying to get a Jewish burial for the corpse of a young boy stars Geza Rohrig in a riveting performance made all the more galvanizing by the long, unbroken takes he thoroughly dominates throughout the film. Although Röhrig was an early favorite for the best actor prize, that honor was taken by Vincent Lindon for his role in “La Loi du Marché” (“The Measure of a Man”), about a man faced with a moral dilemma at his new job.
But at least “Son of Saul” did not come away empty-handed: It won Cannes’s Grand Prix, a kind of second-place in the festival’s awards pecking order. The recognition bodes well for Nemes, whose debut counted as one of the few true high points of an otherwise middling year. After all, Audiard, who won the Palme d’Or, himself took home the Grand Prix, in 2009, for the penetrating prison drama “A Prophet.”But at least “Son of Saul” did not come away empty-handed: It won Cannes’s Grand Prix, a kind of second-place in the festival’s awards pecking order. The recognition bodes well for Nemes, whose debut counted as one of the few true high points of an otherwise middling year. After all, Audiard, who won the Palme d’Or, himself took home the Grand Prix, in 2009, for the penetrating prison drama “A Prophet.”