“Amour” (“Love”), writer-director Michael Haneke’s piercing drama about the final months of a marriage, won the Palme d’Or at the 65th annual Cannes Film Fest.
The critically acclaimed movie toped a competition slate that saw not a single win for an American film, despite one of the strongest U.S. lineups in years.
It’s the second Palme win for Haneke, who previously won for 2009’s “The White Ribbon,” and who now joins a short list of filmmakers who have twice taken the fest’s top prize: Alf Sjoberg, Francis Ford Coppola, Bille August, Emir Kusturica, Shohei Imamura, and Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne.
Haneke also made Cannes history by becoming the first director to win a pair of Palmes just three years apart. No other helmer has won two in such a short timespan; the previous record holder was August, who won in 1988 for “Pelle the Conqueror” and 1992 for “The Best Intentions.”
The Grand Prix was awarded to “Reality,” Matteo Garrone’s look at a Neapolitan fishmonger’s all-consuming obsession with appearing on the Italian version of “Big Brother.” It’s Garrone’s second Grand Prix, after 2008’s “Gomorrah.”
Mads Mikkelsen received the actor prize for his performance as a man falsely accused of pedophilia in Danish filmmaker Thomas Vinterberg’s “The Hunt.”
Cristina Flutur and Cosmina Stratan shared the actress prize for their performances in Romanian helmer Cristian Mungiu’s monastic drama “Beyond the Hills.” Pic also drew the screenplay prize for Mungiu.
The directing award went to Mexico’s Carlos Reygadas for his experimental feature “Post tenebras lux.” Helmer previously won a jury prize for 2007’s “Silent Light.”
Ken Loach’s “The Angels’ Share” received the jury prize, handing the British helmer his first Cannes honor since the 2006 Palme d’Or for “The Wind That Shakes the Barley.”
The Camera d’Or for first film went to Benh Zeitlin’s Un Certain Regard entry “Beasts of the Southern Wild,” which had won the Fipresci international critics’ prize the night before. Pic has had a remarkable awards run so far, having also won the grand jury prize in the dramatic competition at Sundance.
MAIN JURY PRIZES
Palme d’Or: “Amour” (Michael Haneke, France-Germany-Austria)
Grand Prix: “Reality” (Matteo Garrone, Italy-France)
Director: Carlos Reygadas, “Post tenebras lux” (Mexico-France-Germany-Netherlands)
Jury prize: “The Angels’ Share” (Ken Loach, U.K.-France-Belgium-Italy)
Actor: Mads Mikkelsen, “The Hunt” (Denmark-Sweden)
Actress (tie): Cristina Flutur and Cosmina Stratan (“Beyond the Hills,” Romania-France-Belgium)
Screenplay: Cristian Mungiu (“Beyond the Hills,” Romania-France-Belgium)
UN CERTAIN REGARD JURY PRIZES
Main prize: “After Lucia” (Michel Franco, Mexico)
Jury prize: “Le grand soir” (Benoit Delepine and Gustave Kervern, France)
Actress (tie): Emilie Dequenne (“Our Children,” Belgium-Luxembourg-France-Switzerland) and Suzanne Clement, “Laurence Anyways” (Canada-France)
Special distinction of the jury: “Children of Sarajevo” (Aida Begic, Bosnia-Herzegovina-Germany-France-Turkey)
OTHER JURY PRIZES
Camera d’Or: “Beasts of the Southern Wild” (Benh Zeitlin, U.S.)
Critics’ Week Grand Prix: “Here and There” (Antonio Mendez Esparza, Spain-U.S.-Mexico)
SHORT FILMS JURY PRIZES
Palme d’Or: “Silence” (Rezan Yesilbas, Turkey)
FIPRESCI AWARDS
Competition: “In the Fog” (Sergei Loznitsa, Germany-Russia-Latvia-Netherlands-Belorussia)
Un Certain Regard: “Beasts of the Southern Wild” (Benh Zeitlin, U.S.)
Directors’ Fortnight: “Hold Back” (Rachid Djaidani, France)
ECUMENICAL PRIZE: “The Hunt” (Thomas Vinterberg, Denmark-Sweden)
