A week and a half of French Riviera frenzy comes down to, as it always does, wild conjecture.
The 68th Cannes Film Festival concludes on Sunday with the awarding of its top honour, the prestigious Palme d’Or, as well as a handful of other distinctions.
Few trophies in movies are more sought after than the Palme d’Or, but, unlike the Academy Awards, which whittles its field down to a few favourites over the course of months, Cannes winners are chosen clandestinely by a jury.
The mystery adds much suspense.
Throughout the festival, the jury, led by Joel and Ethan Coen, has quietly slipped in and out of theatres. Their deliberations are private, but that doesn’t stop the world’s media from endlessly debating the possible preferences of the Coens and fellow jurors Guillermo del Toro, Jake Gyllenhaal, Sienna Miller, Sophie Marceau, Xavier Dolan, Rokia Traore, and Rossy De Palma.
The Cannes competition concluded on Saturday with the stylish bloodbath of director Justin Kurzel’s Macbeth, starring Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard.
All of the 19 films in competition could feasibly walk away with the Palme d’Or, but a handful of perceived favourites have emerged.
One thing is for certain: For the first time in several years, the Palme d’Or winner won’t be a three-hour art-house epic. In 2013, Steven Spielberg’s jury chose the lesbian coming-of-age drama Blue is the Warmest Color last year, Jane Campion’s jury elected the glacial Turkish drama Winter Sleep.
Here are four films that could land the Palme d’Or:
Son Of Saul
First-time filmmakers rarely make it into the competition, let alone win the Palme d’Or. The Camera d’Or, the Cannes award for best first feature, could ultimately be what director Laszlo Nemes’ Son of Saul takes home, but no other film here found the universal acclaim that this Hungarian Holocaust drama did. Hauntingly gripping, it tracks a member of the Sonderkommando at Auschwitz who believes his son is among the gas chamber dead.
Youth
Italian director Paolo Sorrentino’s latest was considered a slight step below his previous, Oscar-winning film The Great Beauty. But his comic, melancholy tale of a retired composer (Michael Caine) reflecting on life and art at a Swiss spa was one of the liveliest entries of the festival. Youth is highlighted by the performances of two old vets: Caine and Harvey Keitel.
The Assassin
Director Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s latest was unquestionably the most beautiful film in Cannes, but was it the best? Many thought so, lavishing praise on the Taiwan director’s lush, painterly imagery and his quiet inversion of the martial arts genre. The 68-year-old Hou is widely regarded as one of today’s great filmmakers, but Western audiences’ awareness of him has lagged behind that of the critics. A Palme d’Or would be the crowning of an acknowledged master.
Carol
Todd Haynes’ adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s 1952 novel landed with obvious resonance. This year’s Cannes has been dominated by debate about gender equality in film, and Haynes’ film, which stars Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara as illicit lovers in ‘50s America, is precisely the kind of story that has struggled to find big-screen representation. Plus, the tender precision of its romance had Cannes critics swooning.
My Mother
This movie is by Italian director Nanni Moretti.
Powerfully emotional, and one of a number of Cannes films that reference the cinema industry, this movie follows a director facing personal and professional crises.
The Lobster
Starring a paunchy, deadpan Colin Farrell, The Lobster — by Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos — is a weird, but well-received movie about single people who are transformed into animals if they don’t find a mate.
The other films in the competition are:
Sicario
Canadian director Denis Villeneuve, starring Emily Blunt, Benicio Del Toro and Josh Brolin
Chronic
Mexican director Michel Franco, starring Tim Roth
Mountains May Depart
Chinese director Jia Zhang-Ke, starring Zhao Tao
Macbeth
Australian director Justin Kurzel, starring Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard
The Tale of Tales
Italian director Matteo Garrone, starring Salma Hayek
Our Little Sister
Japanese director Hirokazu Koreeda, starring Ayase Haruka, Nagasawa Masami, Kaho
The Measure of a Man
French director Stephane Brize, starring Vincent Lindon
Valley of Love
French director Guillaume Nicloux, starring Gerard Depardieu and Isabelle Huppert
Dheepan
French director Jacques Audiard, starring Anthonythasan Jesuthasan
Mon Roi
French director Maiwenn, starring Vincent Cassel
Marguerite & Julien
French director Valerie Donzelli, starring Anais Demoustier and Jeremie Elkaim
Louder Than Bombs
Norwegian director Joachim Trier, starring Jesse Eisenberg, Gabriel Byrne and Isabelle Huppert
The Sea of Trees
US director Gus Van Sant, starring Matthew McConaughey
