Cannes 2008 – The Hardware
It screened yesterday after most buyers and many journalists had already gone home, but Laurent Cantet’s Parisian classroom drama Entre Les Murs (The Class) took the top prize Sunday night at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival. It’s the first French film to win the Palme d’Or since Maurice Pialat’s Sous le soleil de Satan (Under the Sun of Satan) in 1987. Here’s a complete list of winners (results via IndieWIRE):
Palme d’Or: Entre Les Murs – Laurent Cantet
Grand Prix (runner-up): Gomorra – Matteo Garrone
Prix de la Mise en Scene (best director): Nuri Bilge Ceylan – Three Monkeys
Prix du Scenario (best screenplay): Jean Pierre and Luc Dardenne – Le Silence de Lorna
Camera d’Or (best first feature): The Hunger – Steve McQueen. Special Mention: Ils mourront tous sauf moi - Valeria Gai Guermanika.
Prix du Jury (jury prize): Il Divo – Paolo Sorrentino
Prix d’interpretation feminine (best actress): Sandra Corveloni – Linha de Passe
Prix d’interpretation masculine (best actor): Benicio del Toro – Che
Palme d’Or (short film): Metron – Marian Crisan. Special Mention: Jerry Can – Julius Avery.
Filed under: Film Festivals
Seriously, I could not have predicted any of those….execpt for del Toro.
Shoot, so Cannes is over? Damn. Reality is knocking on the door.
I look forward to seeing a lot of these films. No love for Synecdoche, NY is a little depressing, though.
Totally Ari, so depressing, but I bet the film still rocks.
I had no idea who was going to win the Palm, Nick. Seemed pretty wide open to me, but the first I’d even heard of The Class was a Reuter’s report yesterday that I mentioned in the Un Certain Regard post.
Seemed like a longshot to me, but this is why I’m not in the business of predicting such things. :)
Don’t worry about Synecdoche too much Ari. There is already some re-appraisal going on (of Che too). Plus, split critical opinion out of Cannes is often a good thing in my book. As Nick has mentioned elsewhere: Marie-Antoinette and My Blueberry Nights.
Yeah, I expect Synecdoche to be one of the year’s best movies. Can’t wait to see it.
And Marie Antoinette should’ve taken the Palme d’Or or at least the Grand Prize in ’06. I love that film. So great.
I’m *ecstatic* about del Toro’s victory. Will the ceremonies be broadcast on Bravo or IFC? I know they did in previous years, but perhaps they don’t anymore.
All but one review I’ve read of Synecdoche has been very positive. Most note that such a complex and ambitious work needs a second viewing. I’m disappointed that it didn’t win best screenplay though. I can’t imagine that the Dardennes or most anyone else could have written anything as brilliant. So many of these films look terrific, it was a fine year.
Sartre, maybe you didn’t get the memo: Cannes was Lackluster. The jaded Journos said so, so you know it has to be true!
Dorothy are you doing your Happy Happy Benny Dance? I don’t know about the broadcast on account of I don’t have cable. I’m so 1979, I know.
Ari, regarding your thoughts on Marie Antoinette, I knew there was a reason I liked you! Your tastes are superb.
“I’m so 1979″. Cool kids never have the time.
Ari ~~~~~ Marie Antoinette…is such as amazing film, Sofia Coppola is just amazing.
Nick, your taste is also known far and wide…at least at LiC.
Has Wells seen The Class? Or do we have months and months of him bitterly complaining that one film didn’t win only to finally see the Palm d’Or winner and say it’s a deserving masterpiece in store for us?
I agree with Sartre, this was a fine year.
Oh. my. God. Other than my brother, I’ve never come across other people who appreciate “Marie Antoinette” until now!!! You guys rock so much it’s not even funny. The film is amazing, the performances excellent and the direction masterful. As a matter of fact, I’m heading over the Amazon to get my copy :)
Wells’ theory is that a film festival is over roughly half way through and he can’t be bothered to stick around in the hopes that something interesting will happen. 9 times out of 10, I’d say he’s probably right (he’d know better than I would), but I still don’t care for his attitude.
In this case, he missed the boat.
Dorothy, I just watched it again a couple of months back. I still love it.
Why didn’t more people pick up on it? To me, it’s Sofia’s best film to date (with “The Virgin Suicides” as a close second).
My opinion is that people misunderstood a movie about “nothingness” as a movie about nothing.
Damn, Craig. That sums it up perfectly. Hats off.
I loved Time Out and Human Resources, so it’s great to see Cantet get an award.
Go Sandra Corveloni and Benicio del Toro!!!
Yeah, Nick, she’s really brilliant. I’d say Sofia Coppola and PT Anderson are the most interesting and talented American filmmakers working right now. Marie Antoinette just grows on you the more you think about it. And it rewards greatly on subsequent viewing. I agree with dorothy on Coppola’s direction. It is masterful, indeed. On my initial Best of 2006 list, I put it under “Honorable Mentions”, not my top 10. If I revised that list now, it would probably be #1 or #2. Marie Antoinette or Inland Empire. Tough to decide. Both films are very singular, amazing works of art.
I LOVE Marie-Antoinette. Is very subversive, in its own way. I’d expand it some more, but since I already have, I’ll just link to that in shameless self-promotion ;-)
Well, for me, Lost in Translation, Virgin Suicides and Marie Antoinette are some of the finest examples of filmmaking out there. All rank high in my favourites of all time list.
I think Sofia is a master-worker, and even though she cannot act at all, every time she steps behind a camera, I always get the feeling that as soon as she is done with that specific film, my life will change all over again, for the better.
She is that powerful for me. And she doesn’t give a crap what anyone else thinks.
I could go on forever.
We’re big supporters of shameless self promotion around here, Hedwig.
You’re right about Sofia too. I don’t blame her for not being a great actor though, her father never should’ve put her in the picture, especially for such an important role.
No idea why your comment got buried as spam Jeff, but there it is.