The controversial
Titane,
by the French Julia Ducournau, has won the Palme d'Or at the 74th Cannes Film Festival. The director is the second winner of the French competition after Jane Campion, for
El piano
in 1993, although on that occasion it was shared. Ducournau's film has provoked great debates since its projection for its radicalism, its firmness and its defense of a love above the sexes and of female empowerment. Its protagonist, a serial killer who becomes pregnant with a car, ends up posing as a missing boy in order to hide.
Titane
It is translatable by titanium (by the plate that the protagonist wears on the head) and, as its creator explains, it is also a game about myths and the titans, the Greek giants who wanted to storm the skies, like her character.
In French, adding the e to the end of the word feminizes it.
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The jury was chaired by Spike Lee, who messed up the ceremony when he blurted out that the Palme d'Or was for
Titane,
instead of following the natural ascending order of the awards, and it certainly has seemed like a cocktail measured in its nine components of male and female voices, and of creators from all over the world.
Lee apologized for the disaster he made by busting all intrigue: "I have learned that there is always time for a second chance," before he was about to skip the script again.
Later, in the press room, he repeated that he had no "excuses" for his mistake.
Spike Lee sits down after making the mistake of announcing the Palme d'Or ahead of time.SEBASTIEN NOGIER / EFE
Titane
jumps from the references of
Crash
, by Cronenberg, to the purest terror bordering on a visual punk that surpasses the raw images of the director's first film,
Raw
(2016), to end up talking about the love between a father and a son, or at least someone he considers his offspring. Ducournau, a 37-year-old Parisian, ascends to the cinematographic Olympus, and with a clear voice: on stage with La Palma in hand, he defended diversity,
queer,
and the emotion of the monstrous and the different. Lee praised his "madness, his genius and how he manages to put it together." Another of the members of the jury, the Austrian filmmaker Jessica Hausner, added that they never spoke about whether the author was a man or a woman: "Only after having made the decision, we look at that.
The grand prize of the jury was distributed ex aequo to
A Hero,
by Iranian Asghar Farhadi, and
Hyutti No. 6,
by Finnish Juho Kuosmanen. The jury award was also
ex aequo
for
Memory,
by Apichatpong Weerasethakul, and
Ha'berech,
by Nadav Lapid. The two acting awards went to Caleb Landry Jones, for
Nitram,
and to Renate Reinsve, for
Verdens Verste Menneske.
Incidentally, Jones also appeared very nervous on stage, retching, and thanked the trophy as quickly as he could before saying, "I can't do this," and disappearing. The award for best director went to Leos Carax, for
Annette
and the best script was won by Ryûsuke Hamaguchi and Oe Takamasa, for
Drive My Car.
As for the official competition section, it must be recognized that the average grade is remarkable. Except for a few films selected by their continent of origin (the two African women lacked originality) and
Flag Day,
Sean Penn's unfortunate turn of the screw in his career as a director, in the rest there were at least notes that justified their projection. And they were notable
A Hero,
by Asghar Farhadi; the final 40 minutes of
Memoria,
by Apichatpong Weerasethakul;
Les Olympiades,
by Jacques Audiard;
Les Intranquilles,
by Joachim Lafosse;
Verdens Verste Menneske,
by Joachim Trier, and
Red Rocket,
by Sean Baker; and very interesting
Nitram
by Justin Kurzel;
Tre Piani,
by Nanni Moretti;
The French Chronicle,
by Wes Anderson (in its visual development); or
Tout s'est bien passé,
by François Ozon. Three titles opened the channel to viewers, who were later divided into staunch defenders or radical detractors:
Annette,
by Leos Carax;
Benedetta,
by Paul Verhoeven, and
Titane
. And that always comes in handy to current anesthetized stalls. Above all, yes,
Drive My Car,
by Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, an exceptional Japanese director who has adapted a short story by Haruki Murakami. Yes
Asako I & II
(2018) was already showing signs of his mastery, at the last Berlinale, held online, his
The Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy
was the best feature film in the competition, for which he won the grand jury prize.
In half a year Hamaguchi has released two masterpieces.
784 days have passed since the 2019 edition closed. Since
Parasites,
from the Korean Bong Joon-ho, his Palma and Antonio Banderas won the award for best actor with
Pain and Glory.
Later
Parasites
would become the second Palm in history to also win the Oscar for best picture (only
Marty
had previously achieved it
,
by Delbert Mann).
And covid-19 became a pandemic and ended the 2020 Cannes edition (only its film selection was announced), and postponed this 74th May edition, its usual date of celebration, to July.
According to the organization, there have been some 28,000 accredited persons, 30% less than in previous years among the press, artists and participants in the film market, although absences seemed greater in theaters.
Fight against covid
And, above all, there has been some lack of control about the pandemic. If from the beginning all the accredited were forced to pass an antigen test every 48 hours or to carry a document that accredits the complete vaccination schedule (except in the case of Americans, who are not recognized as valid for their vaccines), there was neither the same rigidity nor the same control in the use of the mask. Only when the first weekend arrived (the contest lasts 12 days), the notices increased: before the screenings, from Monday the 12th, a warning was heard that recalled the prohibition of lowering the masks during the sessions. At the press conferences, after seven days of some laxity, the filmmakers finally sat down with a mask.
Every day, some 5,000 tests have been carried out, and on average there were three positives, with days of none and others of up to six. There has been no protocol for these people or monitoring of their cases and their confinement, nor has help been provided. Their contacts have not been traced either: for the first time the tickets to the sessions were obtained electronically, but they were not numbered, but only with limited areas.
In the absence of many American stars (there have not been many parties and therefore sponsors for their stays), the contest increased its master classes, conducted by Bong Joon-ho, Jodie Foster, Matt Damon, Isabelle Huppert, Marco Bellocchio and Steve McQueen .
And two Golden Palms of Honor: to Foster, who received it at the inauguration from Pedro Almodóvar, and to Marco Bellocchio, to whom Paolo Sorrentino presented it at the closing ceremony.
For that reason alone, two fascinating creators moments were worth celebrating this contest.
Award winners
Palme d'Or: 'Titane', by Julia Ducournau.
Grand Jury Prize: 'ex aequo' for 'A hero', by Asghar Farhadi, and 'Hyutti No. 6', by Juho Kuosmanen.
Jury Prize: 'ex aequo' for 'Memoria', by Apichatpong Weerasethakul, and 'Ha'berech', by Nadav Lapid.
Best Direction: Leos Carax, for 'Annette'.
Best Actress: Renate Reinsve, for 'Verdens Verste Menneske'.
Best Actor: Caleb Landry Jones, for 'Nitram'.
Best Screenplay: Ryûsuke Hamaguchi and Oe Takamasa, for 'Drive My Car'.
Golden Camera: 'Murina', by Antoneta Alamat Kusijanovic.
International Critics Award: 'Drive My Car', by Ryûsuke Hamaguchi.