Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just an Accident wins Palme d’Or at Cannes

A day without electricity, said John C Reilly, luckily the films provided the electricity, which raised a ripple of laughter among the audience. With this, he launched into a lovely rendition of La Vie en Rose.

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The Best Screenplay award went to the Dardenne Brothers for ‘Young Mothers’.

Oliver Laxe won the grand prize of the jury for ‘Sirat’, sharing the award with Mascha Schilinski for ‘Sound of Falling’.

Payal Kapadia announced the Best Director award, for Kleber Mendonca Filho for ‘The Secret Agent’. The Cannes film festival is the best film show on the planet, he said, in his acceptance speech. The best actor went to Wagner Moura, the lead actor of the film, making it a rare double bill. Filho’s twisty, atmospheric thriller ‘The Secret Agent’, set during the military dictatorship of the 70s Brazil, tracks a technology expert in a small town getting ready for the carnival, and an endless supply of dodgy characters.

The Best Actress award went to Nadia Melliti for ‘The Little Sister’, a film which examines the confluence of sexuality and conservatism.

The Grand Prix went to ‘Sentimental Value’ directed by Jochaim trier. “Thank you jury for seeing us”, he said, dedicating the award to his actors.

The top prize of the Palme d’Or went to Jafar Panahi’s ‘It Was Just an Accident’, amidst thunderous applause. Panahi received the award from Binoche and presenter Cate Blanchett who spoke eloquently about the importance of cinema in these fraught times. ‘It Was Just An Accident’ distills the atmosphere of unease that citizens in Iran are forced to live with, with its repressive regime constantly holding out the threat of violence.

The jury’s special prize went to Bi Gan’s stylised thriller ‘Resurrection’, a film that demands total immersion.

This year’s Competition section was a solid slate, with several of the best-regarded films revolving around political shenanigans, petty power brokers and wholesale tyranny in different parts of the globe.

Tarik Saleh’s ‘Eagles Of The Republic’ features a fading star, desperately trying to hold on to his stardom even as he is forced to toe the government line in a propaganda film (sounds familiar?). Sergei Loznitsa’s recreation of the USSR under Stalin ‘Two Prosecutors’ is a powerful reminder of the country that it used to be, and still, in so many ways, still is.

Joachim Trier’s family drama ‘Sentimental Value’ climbed straight to the top of the charts, with his regular Renate Reinsve playing an anxiety-ridden actor who has had to live with a father, played by a stellar Stellen Skarsgard, who is happier channelling his ego, rather than affection. The Dardenne Brother’s ‘Young Mothers’, shown nearly towards the end of the festival, is a moving portrayal of young girls going through pregnancy and birth at a shelter, without a shred of judgement. Carla Simon’s ‘Romeria’ uses skilful flashbacks to create an affecting portrait of a young woman in search of her past, in order to parse her present.

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Ari Aster’s ‘Eddington’ offers a look-back at the pandemic years, infusing the film with nay-saying scepticism, with some people refusing to wear masks, divided opinion, but there is no doubt that the impact of the Coronavirus, and how it created wedges between people, will be addressed for years to come in popular culture. Richard Linklater’s ‘Nouvelle Vague’, an affectionate tribute to the making of Jean-Luc Godard’s ‘Breathless’ was again one of those films which people either loved or didn’t. I was firmly in the former camp.

And in all of these films, the first one that kickstarted the festival, Mascha Scilinski’s beautifully-wrought palimpsest of female desire ‘Sound Of Falling’, succeeded in keeping itself alive in our minds. Lynne Ramsay’s ‘Die, My Love’ was another winner, in which the director dissects post-partum depression in a way we haven’t seen in mainstream cinema, with a standout performance from Jennifer Lawrence. There could well be an Oscar in the offing. Oliver Laxe’s ‘Sirat’, a thumping techno-beat-inspired meditation on grief, is another film which is a stayer.

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