Cannes Festival Jury chooses 'Amour' - by Konstantin Jochimsen

Ah, those Frenchmen: ‘Toujours l’amour’!

The winner of the 65th Cannes Film Festival is Michael Haneke’s apparently very moving marriage drama Amour, starring acting legends Emmanuel Riva and Jean-Luis Trintignant. The choice of the film was not unexpected, as it was unanimously praised by critics and is said to have not only moved the audience to tears but trampled on their cynical cineaste hearts until nothing was left but a pool of tears and intestines.

Cannes trailer for Amour

Much more of a left-field choice was the winner of the Grand Jury Prize: Matteo Garrone’s Reality. The film had nothing of the critical success of the director’s last work Gomorrha. The same of goes for the choice of Carlos Reygadas as best director for Post Tenebras Lux, which didn’t receive many raves and seemed — even for fans of the director’s meditative (and for this author, extremely aggravating) style — a very tough sit.

The male acting prize went to Mads Mikkelsen (Casino Royal) for his said-to-be-impressive work in the Danish drama The Hunt, which is considered to be a return to form for Festen director Thomas Vinterberg.

Best Actress went to the Romanian double-punch of Cristina Flutur & Cosmina Stratan in Cristian Mungiu’s Beyond the Hills, a drama of friendship shattered by religion.

Beasts of the Southern Wild affirmed the rave reviews it earned in Sundance and grabbed the award for Best First Feature.

Here's the complete list of winners:

Palme d’Or: Amour – Michael Haneke

Grand Prix: Reality – Matteo Garrone

Prix de la Mise en Scene (Best Director): Post Tenebras Lux by Carlos Reygadas

Prix d’interpretation feminine (Best Actress): Cristina Flutur & Cosmina StratanBeyond the Hills

Prix d’interpretation masculine (Best Actor): Mads Mikkelsen The Hunt

Prix du Scenario (Best Screenplay): Cristian Mungiu – Beyond the Hills

Camera d’Or (Best First Feature): Beasts of the Southern Wild by Benh Zeitlin

Prix du Jury (Jury Prize): Ken Loach for The Angels'Share

Palme d’Or (Short Film): Silent – L.Rezan Yesilbas

This article was written by Konstantin Jochimsen and originally published in moviepilot.com.

Here a link to the original article.