French director Justine Triet wins Palme d’Or

“Anatomie d’une Chute” was the big winner at the Cannes Film Festival, and when accepting the award, filmmaker Justine Triet recalled the social struggles in France.

She is the third director and the second French woman to win the Palme d’Or, in 76 editions. With seven women behind the camera in the 21 films in competition, it was no great surprise that Justine Triet’s film “Anatomie d’Une Chute” wins the main prize at Cannes 2023.

This is the story of Triet’s film: Sandra, Samuel and their son Daniel, 11 years old and visually impaired, have been living far from everything in the mountains for a year. One day, Samuel is found dead at the foot of his house. An investigation into the suspicious death is opened. Sandra is quickly accused, although there are doubts as to whether it is suicide or murder. A year later, Daniel attends his mother’s trial…

Upon receiving the award, in addition to the usual words of thanks, Justine Triet did not forget the social struggles that have been sweeping France in recent times, against pension reform and which have been repressed by Macron’s neoliberal government, which is also ready to place endangering the cultural exception that French cinema needs to survive.

It was a good year, Cannes 2023. The renowned filmmakers did not disappoint, and new talent emerged. Jane Fonda and Quentin Tarantino, Michael Douglas and Harrison Ford, Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro, among many others, walked the Cannes red carpet.

It was not yet that Portuguese cinema made it to the competition, but João Salaviza represented us well with the Un Certain Regard prize for “A Flor do Buriti”. In the official history there is a certain disappointment that Aki Kaurismaki did not win the Palme d’Or once again, repeating the Grand Prix. What else will the Finn need to do to conquer Cannes?

“Zone of Interest”, or the other side of Nazism, in an experimental format, earned Jonathan Glazer the Grand Jury Prize. The Turkish Merve Dizdar and the Japanese Koji Yakusho won the acting prizes, for the films by Nuri Bilge Ceilan and Wim Wenders.

The Vietnamese, who has lived in France for a long time, Tran Anh Hung, was considered best director and the best screenplay went to the Japanese Yuji Sakamoto, for the last film by Kore-eda Hirokazu. The Camera d’Or, awarding the best first film seen at all the festivals, went to the young Vietnamese Thien An Pham, for the promising “Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell”, by Thien An Pham. “, as Jane Fonda reaffirmed at the closing ceremony. And someone also said that the films of the future are already being made today. Until Cannes 2024.

prizes

Palme d’Or; “Anatomie d’une Chute” by Justine Triet

Grand Jury Prize: “Zone of Interest” by Jonathan Glazer

Jury Prize: “Fallen Angels” by Aki Kaurismaki

Best Director: Tran Anh Hung, for “La Passion de Dodin Bouffant”

Best Screenplay: Yuji Sakamoto, “Monster” by Kore-eda Hirokazu

Best Actor: Koji Yakusho in “Perfect Days” by Wim Wenders

Best Actress: Merve Dizdar, in “Les Herbes Sêches”, by Nuri Bilge Ceylan

Camera d’Or: “Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell” by Thien An Pham

Short film: “27”, by Flora Ana Buda