The Cannes Film Festival has once again stirred debate with its awards, and this year's Palme d'Or has raised eyebrows. Cristian Mungiu's Fjord, a film about a couple on trial for child abuse, took the top prize, but many critics, including Peter Bradshaw, argue it is not a patch on the director's previous Palme winner, 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days. The festival, under pressure from the absence of Hollywood A-listers, relied on international heavyweights, but many of their films were deemed moderate.
Fjord: A Contrivance?
Fjord stars Sebastian Stan as a grumpy Romanian IT engineer, with his hair shaved into male pattern baldness, photographed in austere longshots. The film explores cultural differences within Europe, contrasting liberal Norway with conservative Romania. However, Bradshaw feels Mungiu's procedural style fails to illuminate any interesting truth, calling the film a "coproduction contrivance."
Other Contenders
Andrey Zvyagintsev's Minotaur, a Russian parable of Putinesque violence, was Bradshaw's pick for the Palme. It won the Grand Prix, and he praises it as "substantial, clear-sighted, magnificently acted and shot." Valeska Grisebach's The Dreamed Adventure won the Jury Prize, but Bradshaw found it not her best work, though intriguing.
Pawel Pawlikowski's Fatherland, about Thomas Mann's return to post-war Germany, won him the Best Director prize (jointly). Bradshaw lauds it as "outstanding" with great performances from Hanns Zischler and Sandra Hüller. The Best Screenplay went to Emmanuel Marre's Notre Salut, a poignant story of his great-grandfather in Vichy France.
Acting Awards and Controversies
The Best Actress awards went jointly to Tao Okamoto and Virginie Efira for Ryusuke Hamaguchi's All of a Sudden, a film about a French care home supervisor and a Japanese stage director. Bradshaw dismisses it as "middlebrow high concept" but praises the performances, especially in depicting care for the elderly.
Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi won the Best Director prize (jointly) for The Black Ball, a queer panorama derived from Lorca. The Best Actor prize went to Emmanuel Macchia and Valentin Campagne for Lukas Dhont's Coward, about Belgian soldiers in WWI who fall in love. Bradshaw questions whether the film offers new insights but acknowledges the vehement performances.
Overall Assessment
Bradshaw concludes that Zvyagintsev's Minotaur and Pawlikowski's Fatherland are the highlights of this year's ceremony, while Grisebach's The Dreamed Adventure may find a growing band of admirers. The Cannes awards, he suggests, reflect a jury that favored certain themes and styles over others.
