A Swedish film – made in Swedish, English and Danish – came away with the biggest cinematic prize in the world last night at the end of the 70th anniversary edition of the Cannes Film Festival.
“The Square” – a sprawling satire set in a near-future where Sweden’s monarchy has been abolished – won the coveted Palme d’Or, as announced by a jury led by veteran Spanish film director Pedro Almodóvar. Its director – 43-year-old Ruben Östlund – is no stranger to Cannes. In 2014, his excellent film Force Majeure was selected for competition in the Un Certain Regard section; on which he then served as jury member last year.
Many critics (and bookies) favoured the French AIDS drama 120 Battements par Minute to take the top prize but there was a certain unanimity amongst critics, films fans and jury members in the awarding of the Palme d’Or to Östlund.
The winning Swede was in fine form as he took his prize to rapturous applause, egging on the crowd to shout with him. Pedro and his jury looked as if they were going to give him some kind of prize for his performance too.
From an Irish point of view, there was success in the form of a joint prize for Best Screenplay being awarded to The Killing of a Sacred Deer. The American-set film – written by Yorgos Lanthimos and Efthymis Filippou and directed by Lanthimos (of The Lobster fame) – was developed and financed in Dublin by Element Pictures and the Irish Film Board and stars Colin Farrell and Nicole Kidman.
OFFICIAL RESULTS FROM THE CANNES 2017 INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
FEATURE FILMS
PALME D’OR
THE SQUARE by Ruben ÖSTLUND
70th Anniversary Award
Nicole KIDMAN
GRAND PRIX
120 BATTEMENTS PAR MINUTE (BPM – Beats Per Minute)
by Robin CAMPILLO
BEST DIRECTOR
Sofia COPPOLA for THE BEGUILED
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR
Joaquin PHOENIX in YOU WERE NEVER REALLY HERE by Lynne RAMSAY
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS
Diane KRUGER in AUS DEM NICHTS (In The Fade) by Fatih AKIN
JURY PRIZE
NELYUBOV (Loveless) by Andrey ZVYAGINTSEV
BEST SCREENPLAY EX-ÆQUO
Yorgos LANTHIMOS and Efthimis FILIPPOU
for THE KILLING OF A SACRED DEER
Lynne RAMSAY
for YOU WERE NEVER REALLY HERE
SHORT FILMS
PALME D’OR
XIAO CHENG ER YUE (A Gentle Night) by QIU Yang
MENTION DISTINCTION BY THE JURY
KATTO (The Ceiling) by Teppo AIRAKSINEN
CAMÉRA D’OR
JEUNE FEMME (Montparnasse Bienvenüe) by Léonor SERRAILLE
presented at UN CERTAIN REGARD
The CST Jury decided to award the VULCAIN PRIZE FOR ARTIST-TECHNICIAN to: Josefin ASBERG for her remarkable artistic contribution to match the inventiveness of the film THE SQUARE.
Taster Clip from “The Square”
Taster Clip from “The Killing of a Sacred Deer”