Winning director says win will boost film industry in his troubled country
LAST NIGHT, the Cannes Film Festival jury, headed by Tim Burton, managed, in many attendees’ eyes, to redeem a slightly lacklustre event by awarding the Palme d’Or to an utterly original, head-spinningly delightful masterpiece.
When Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Livespremiered on Friday evening, many felt the picture had a decent chance of sneaking past Mike Leigh's Another Year– up to that point the favourite – and grabbing the top prize.
Sure enough, the weird, spooky film, which features red-eyed monkey spirits and a princess having sexual relations with a talking catfish, secured the Palme d’Or for its much-respected young director (known to friends and cineastes as “Joe”).
Coming at a grim time for Thailand, with riots petering out in Bangkok, the victory will cheer the nation’s film community, which, as Weerasethakul explained at the festival, still suffers severe censorship.
The Grand Prix, essentially the runner-up award, went to Xavier Beauvois's much-fancied Of Gods and Men (Des hommes et des dieux).
A true story, detailing the affairs of a group of French monks as they interact with Muslim extremists in Algeria, the movie was considered a front-runner by most observers.
Elsewhere, the awards triggered more than a few gasps.
Most surprising of all, Another Year, celebrated as one of the British director’s very best films, received nothing at all.
Many had expected Leslie Manville, star of that film, to triumph in the best actress race, but, in the event, Juliette Binoche – whose face appears on the 2010 festival programme and poster – won the award for her turn in Abbas Kiarostami's intellectually twisty, quasi-romance Certified Copy. Binoche used the event to protest over the continued detention of Iranian film-maker Jafar Panahi.
Critics had greeted Lee Chang-Dong’s Poetry, a Chinese drama about an elderly lady who signs up to a poetry class, with the most cautious respect, but Lee still managed to pick up the prize for best screenplay.
There was half a shock in the best actor race. Though Alejandro González Iñárritu's Biutiful– his follow-up to Babel– disappointed many viewers, most agreed that Javier Bardem, who stars as a minor criminal suffering from a fatal disease, would walk away with the best actor prize.
As things transpired, Bardem had to share the award with Elio Germano, star of the low-key Italian drama La Nostra Vita.
The Jury Prize, often regarded as the bronze medal, went to Mahamat-Saleh Haroun's African drama Un Homme qui Crie.
The jury, which also included Kate Beckinsale and Benicio del Toro, astonished the auditorium by awarding best director prize to Mathieu Amalric, hitherto best known as an actor, for his debut feature On Tour (Tourneé).
The first film to screen in competition, the picture, which follows a seedy impresario as he escorts an aging Vaudville troupe across France, received some of the weakest reviews of the entire event.
Mike Leigh, who chewed a journalist’s face off at a press conference during the festival, is unlikely to have enjoyed the ceremony.
Cannes 2010: Award Winners:
Palme d'Or:Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
Grand Prix:Of Gods and Men (directed by Xavier Beauvois)
Best Director:Mathieu Amalric for Tournée
Best Screenplay:Lee Chang-dong for Poetry
Best Actress:Juliette Binoche in Certified Copy
Best Actor:Javier Bardem in Biutiful; Elio Germano in La Nostra Vita
Jury Prize:Un Homme qui Crie (directed by Mahamat-Saleh Haroun)
Caméra d'Or (Best first feature):Ano Bisiesto (by Michael Rowe)