Who will win the Palme at Cannes? [2024 edition]

the members of the main competition jury have been announced:

Greta Gerwig, American actress and filmmaker - Jury President
J. A. Bayona, Spanish filmmaker
Ebru Ceylan, Turkish actress and screenwriter
Pierfrancesco Favino, Italian actor and producer
Lily Gladstone, American actress
Eva Green, French actress
Hirokazu Kore-eda, Japanese filmmaker and producer
Nadine Labaki, Lebanese actress and filmmaker
Omar Sy, French actor

Voted Paolo

I'm surprised to read that Meryl Streep was only ever involved with one film that was at the Cannes festival, Evil Angels, for which she won best actress (the film is known in the US as A Cry in the Dark; I was impressed by it at the time but haven't revisited)

She is now to receive an honorary Palme d'Or

Trailer for the Kapadia:

https://x.com/mubinotebook/status/1788230214603976906

And a clip from Megalopolis:

https://x.com/erdemtatar/status/1786751830757699981

And for the noiseniks out there: The Girl With The Needle has a soundtrack from Puce Mary.

Bad news about Mohammad Rasoulof

https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/award-winning-director-mohammad-rasoulof-sentenced-prison-iran-110066757

lashed!

I'm surprised to read that Meryl Streep was only ever involved with one film that was at the Cannes festival, Evil Angels, for which she won best actress (the film is known in the US as A Cry in the Dark; I was impressed by it at the time but haven't revisited)

She is now to receive an honorary Palme d'Or

― Dan S,

One of her very best and one of her least seen performances here.

i would say asako i and ii or the image book were far stronger films in that selection. though neither is one that i think ever would win

― devvvine, Thursday, April 25, 2024

Jean-Luc Godard won a Special Palme d'Or for The Image Book (the award was given for that film specifically as far as I know, and it was not the same as an honorary award)

50% Coppola imo

There are grids somewhere I guess, but doesn’t sound like the Coppola is wowing them

Magnus Von Horn's The Girl With the Needle sounds interesting.

"Set in Denmark during World War I, the film stars Vic Carmen Sonne as Karoline, a young seamstress whose soldier husband is missing in action. Through a series of mishaps, Karolin falls pregnant, loses her job, and meets a mysterious woman named Dagmar (Trine Dyrholm) who runs both a candy store and an adoption agency."

Von Horn, about his own life:

"What we went through sent us on a an emotional journey beyond politics. I felt regret and doubt even if I knew we had done the right thing. I find this conflict reflected in the story of Karoline, who gives away a child she doesn’t want — and yet there is also something in her that regrets that decision. I have always been pro-choice, I support abortion. But we live in Poland, and in 2020 the right-wing government introduced some of the strictest abortion laws in the world and especially in Europe. The abortion we had would have been impossible today and my wife would have been forced to carry a child that would have no chance of surviving.

That’s torture. If there is no legal support for women in such difficult situations, alternatives are created in the shadows of society. This is one of the main topics of the film."

Yeah, they've showed it already to Danish journalists. It's very good, strikingly aesthetic, and the actresses are two of the best in Denmark. Don't think Vic Carmen Sonne has ever been better.

J. Romney in Film Comment (email):

As for the saturnalian excesses that you usually hope Cannes will provide, none this year can possibly be more opulently jaw-dropping than Francis Ford Coppola’s long-awaited dream project, Megalopolis. A parallel-world vision of America poised at the crossroads between utopia and dystopia, it’s set in a version of Manhattan—“New Rome,” in fact—and stars Adam Driver as an idealistic architect, scientist, and all-around futuristic genius whose Promethean drive puts him in conflict with the forces of conservatism and entrenched corruption (mayor Giancarlo Esposito), sexy Mammon-worship (incarnated by Aubrey Plaza, putting on her best “you’re-kidding-right-but-what-the-hell” smirk), and Trumpian populism (Shia LaBeouf, sometimes in drag). A wild, cod-Shakespearian indulgence with a grandiloquently nonsensical script (“Only those in a nightmare are capable of praising the moonlight”), it does have some piquant ideas—like a Roman vestal virgin reimagined as a Taylor Swift–style pop star. And there are a few undeniably voluptuous, strange images. But pile them all up and you realize that the word “visionary” isn’t necessarily a compliment. It’s as if Ed Wood had risen from the grave to remake The Fountainhead on an infinite budget.

But pile them all up and you realize that the word “visionary” isn’t necessarily a compliment. It’s as if Ed Wood had risen from the grave to remake The Fountainhead on an infinite budget.

Obviously I haven't seen the film, but as a general principle, perfectly articulated.

Nicholas Rapold's podcast with Eric Hynes regarding Megalopolis was interesting I thought:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-243-cannes-2024-eric-hynes-on-megalopolis-plus-napoleon/id1512801510?i=1000655858296

His impression was the it was somewhat outwardly embarrassing, that the trans thing didn't work at all, and that the vision was futuristic, see-through and ephemeral but also kind of tacky, with a city entirely digitized. He saw this as more of a green screen film than a studio film like One From the Heart, and it made it hard for him to like, but he still thought it was interesting.

From others' impressions, it seems like Adam Driver was doing a lot of work, but every actor was in their own world in this film, with their own accents, time period and milieu in their line readings

In the theater at Cannes Hynes was sitting behind someone wearing a Tesla long-sleeve t-shirt and Oscars hat, who he thought was recording the whole film through whatever the new version of google/apple eyeglasses is. He was irked, but thought that that added a whole other layer of weirdness to his experience watching this already strange film

Needless to say, my anticipation levels are rising accordingly

It also kind of seems like a Fellini film, outwardly unintentionally but also inwardly intentionally very camp.

Caught By the Tides sounds exactly like the kind of Jia Zhang-ke film I will love, and a summation of his work up to now

https://variety.com/2024/film/reviews/caught-by-the-tides-review-jia-zhangke-1236005134/

There are a lot of disparate reviews coming out of Cannes about Emilia Perez, but with the lack of great songs and lyrics and by all accounts a preposterous-sounding plot, it seems like going to be kind of a mess

Trumpian populism (Shia LaBeouf, sometimes in drag).

can we savor this phrase

Ok maybe it won’t be the Audiard

with Titane and now The Substance (and their obsession with Cronenberg), Cannes does seem to have a fetish for body-horror films

Is it just me or at this halfway point does it seem like there has been a dearth of films that very many people are enthused by?

Not just in the main competition, anywhere

Agreed. But nobody seems that mad at films too, it all seems to get 2. something on the critics grids. Everything feels so familiar, all the old-timers, then some french body-horror, a few attempts at provocations. It might pick up now, though, we have Baker, Sorrentino, Gomes, Kapadia today and the next few days.

The Berlinale was kinda like this too. No masterpieces, but nothing as bad as previous years either.

Sean Baker's Anora by all reports sounds good! '

It's too bad that Jia's Caught By the Tides came between Emilia Perez and The Substance and got lost amidst the instantaneous manic adoration of both of those films (both of which sound iffy to me, although I'll watch them with pleasure)

my guess, based on nothing, since we haven't heard much about them, just the narratives, is that Mohammad Rasoulof's The Seed of the Sacred Fig or Payal Kapadia's All We Imagine As Light is going to win the Palme

the narratives are - a revered Iranian director with a reportedly great film was sentenced to 8 years in prison and flogging (!) for his transgressions, but recently escaped from Iran, and is hiding in Germany and may appear at the festival.

And the first Indian film director in 30 years, a woman! with by all accounts a beautiful film, is nominated for the Palme

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

The two most hyped films of the festival are going to premier tomorrow at 2200 (the Rasoulof) and Friday at 1500 (the Kapadia) (paris time).

We won't have had time to see reviews of them by then, so I’m going to vote for the one I want to win, Jia Zhangke’s Caught By the Tides. I'm also hoping The Grand Tour by Miguel Gomes will win something.

I'm sorry, to me Emilia Perez and The Substance both sound kind of trashy, which means they will both probably win something, but I won't mind too much.

But I'm really putting a hex on The Apprentice. If they give this an award it's going to be political, but from a stupid French point of view. I'm hoping/believing that won't happen

Good to hear the new Gomes is good, his last one had such bad hype I didn't even go but he's a fave of mine for sure.

His last one was great!

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

lol, we sort of feel ready, culturally, for a five-way Palme tie

https://www.jigsawlounge.co.uk/film/reviews/cannes-2024/

6-4 All We Imagine as Light (IND-FRA-NED-LUX) Payal Kapadia (37/38 f India): 0. 114m. Thu 23 2200 (20th)
2-1 The Seed of the Sacred Fig (IRN) Mohammmad Rasoulof (51 m) Iran: 0. 168m. Fri 24 1500 (21st)

7-1 Anora (USA) Sean Baker (53 m) USA: 1. 138m. Tue 21 1500 (14th)

10-1 The Girl with the Needle (SWE-DEN-POL) Magnus von Horn (40 m) Sweden: 0. 115m. Wed 15th 2200 (2nd)
12-1 Emilia Pérez (FRA-MEX) Jacques Audiard (72 m) France: 5 (won Palme) 130m. Sat 18th 1830 (9th)
12-1 Bird (UK-FRA-GER-USA) Andrea Arnold (63 f) UK: 3 (won Jury). 119m. Thu 16th 1530 (3rd)
12-1 The Substance (USA) Coralie Fargeat (47/48 f) France: 0. 140m. Sun 19th 2215 (11th)
12-1 The Apprentice (USA-DEN-CAN-IRE) Ali Abbasi (42/43 m) Iran/Denmark: 1. 120m. Mon 20th 1830 (12th)
14-1 Caught by the Tides (CHI) Jia Zhang-ke (54 m) China: 5 (won Screenplay) 111m. Sat 18th 1500 (8th)
16-1 The Most Precious of Cargoes (FRA) Michel Hazanavicius (57 m) France: 3. 81m. Fri 24 1930 (22nd and last)

20-1 Parthenope (ITY-FRA) Paolo Sorrentino (53 m) Italy: 6 (won Jury). 136m. Tue 21st 2215 (16th)
22-1 Grand Tour (POR-ITY-FRA) Miguel Gomes (52 m) Portugal: 0. 129m. Wed 22 1500 (17th)
25-1 Kinds of Kindness (IRE-UK-USA) Yorgos Lanthimos (50 m) Greece: 2 (won Jury). 165m. Fri 17th 1800 (6th)
28-1 Three Kilometres to the End of the World (ROM) Emanuel Pârvu (45 m) Romania: 0. 105m. Fri 17th 1500 (5th)
33-1 Motel Destino (BRZ-FRA-GER-UK) Karim Aïnouz (58 m) Brazil: 1. 115m. Wed 22nd 2230 (18th)
33-1 Megalopolis (USA) Francis Ford Coppola (85 m) USA: 3 (won Palme). 138m. Thu 16th 1900 (4th)
40-1 The Shrouds (CAN-FRA) David Cronenberg (81 m) Canada: 6 (won Jury).116m. Mon 20th 2145 (13th)

125-1 Wild Diamond (FRA) Agathe Riedinger (circa 40-42??, f) France: 0. 103min. Wed 15th 1600 (1st)
125-1 Beating Hearts (FRA-BEL) Gilles Lellouche (51 m) France: 0. 166m. Thu 23 1800 (19th)
150-1 Limonov: The Ballad (FRA-ITY-SPN) Kirill Serebrennikov (54 m) Russia: 3. 138m. Sun 19th 1430 (10th)
300-1 Oh, Canada (USA) Paul Schrader (77 m) USA: 2 (won Best Artistic Contribution) 95m. Fri 17th 2200 (7th)
500-1 Marcello Mio (FRA) Christophe Honoré (54, m) France: 2. 120m. Tue 21st 1900 (15th)

Megalolpolis

I'm sure All We Imagine As Light would be a worthy winner but

every book is called 'the tiny things we know to be small' or 'the darkest wife'

— amelia elizalde (@ameliaelizalde) July 16, 2022

The Seed of the Sacred Fig's title also sounds like it's been spewed out of a Cannes Generator

Very THE FLOWER THAT DRANK THE MOON

Final Screen International grid

Mohammad Rasoulof’s ‘The Seed Of The Sacred Fig’ storms to victory on Screen’s #cannes2024 jury grid https://t.co/Dk8Qnw7oNy pic.twitter.com/FHfPjJ6X1m

— Screen International (@Screendaily) May 25, 2024

lol Oscar-winning director of THE ARTIST continuing to fulfill his instant legacy

so, Coppola is back in Cannes for tonight, but Jia is not

Too lazy to find a stream rn, does anyone have a link?

Also, Coppola winning director feels pretty likely

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qbt9T8cPac0

the closing ceremony has started

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qk-EgrOQjlc

re: best actress, commence culture wars

Jesse Plemons not being there for his best actor award is pretty brazen

Emilia Perez was dreadful.

I thought Emilia Pérez was beautiful. I have watched it three times now with different friends, and each time it has seemed deeper. I thought the musical aspect of it was slight at first, but it has really seeped into my brain, and it now seems better than any number of more overt American musicals to me.

The interaction between the four actresses, involving suspicion, then many reveals, and ultimately camaraderie and and grace, was so moving.

The Cannes Jury headed by Greta Gerwig got it right

I've started watching Payal Kapadia's All We Imagine As Light on Criterion and and going to watch Miguel Gomes's Grand Tour on MUBI

All We Imagine As Light was such a beautiful film. It should have won the Palme d'Or. For those of you who have a Criterion subscription who haven't seen it, I recommend it

Looking forward to seeing All We Imagine As Light next autumn when it finally premieres in Denmark, I really liked A Night Of Knowing Nothing. But so far I kinda think the jury got it right, Anora is still my favourite of the 11 I've seen. Only Grand Tour comes close.

The worst is Megalopolis by a mile.

I didn't like Grand Tour enough, sadly.

the next film from last year's festival that I'm going to watch is The Girl With the Needle by Magnus von Horn on Mubi, which I gather is a kind of historical psychological horror film

Mubi has acquired several of this year's films from Cannes, they have stepped up their game

I love The Girl With The Needle. Even if it looks absolutely nothing like Copenhagen. The soundtrack by Puce Mary is great as well (and on streaming).

Grand Tour is one of my favourite films from 2024. The camera work is just incredible, I almost laughed when the marching band walked diagonally across the screen in the opening scene. I had expected even more after the rave reviews it got, though. It's another very good Miguel Gomes, but not a next level masterpiece or anything.

yeah, exactly. I wouldn't talk anyone out of watching it -- it's too full of life and wonder.

Hearing a bunch of Portuguese actors, playing British but in Portuguese, was a fun thing to watch with a British audience. The old priest saying he wanted to go back to Yorshire got a big laugh.

All We Imagine As Light was such a beautiful film.

I was intrigued enough to know that I probably should have liked it more and may need to watch it again.

Regarding All We Imagine As Light, there were no events of great consequence and it was very slow moving, so I guess you could call it slow cinema, and I know at least one person who didn’t like it for that reason.

But the photography was mesmerizing to me, with all of the scenes viewing Mumbai and the surrounding countryside from a moving train both during day and at night, and views out of high-rise buildings, and the street and hospital scenes, and the colors, the sense of real life.

I also loved the relationships between the three women. Their conflicts were expressed but also the support and acceptance and grace that they were eventually able to extend to each other

I hadn’t known about the Malayalam culture of southwest India before seeing this film

The Girl With the Needle was dark and creepy. I don't mean that as disparagement, it was very interesting.

I'm now watching the 2022 Cannes Jury Prize winner The Eight Mountains by Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch. It is about two men who meet as boys in the Italian Alps and about their relationship extending over 30-40 years. The feel of life in the Alps that you get to experience really draws you in

Light hasn't lingered in my memory so well, for some reason. Add me to the list of those now planning another viewing. :)

Didn't realise Sorrentino had been in the running *that* many times. Having seen about half the poll options by now, Parthenope has been the most actively displeasing. I consume heaps of Italiana, if only because it's only other language I (vaguely lol) understand, but it may finally be time to concede that Sorrentino and I are operating on incompatible wavelengths.

Aaah, yay, I liked Eight Mountains way more! (XP)

I thought Parthenope was the most wellmade Sorrentino since The Great Beauty, but that doesn't mean a lot.

I fear Loro's three hours of yet more wealth and dirty old men broke something inside me. It's possibly not fair to any film to be in fear of more such vibes before you've seen a single frame lol. That said, I didn't particularly dislike La mano di Dio, of his later stuff. I think it had some memorable characters, possibly stirring some actual emotions, etc. (Not that that's necessarily even the definitive criterion for quality, or what he is/should be striving for.)

Youth is by far his worst, imo. I do think it's funny that he's 54 (his birthday is tomorrow, coincidentally) and has made films about old men since he was 30, and made his debut One Man Up about a pop star in forced retirement after a scandal with a very young girl. The Hand of God and Parthenope were his first films with young protagonists.

I liked The Hand of God (2021) as much as The Great Beauty, and more than any of Sorrentino's other films

Mohammad Rasoulof's The Seed of the Sacred Fig, last year's winner of the Cannes Jury Special Prize, is a very discrete, controlled film about oppression and resistance in today's Iran. I thought it was pretty great. It's on Hulu in the US for those of you who are interested.

Rasoulof was sentenced to flogging and 8 years in prison in Iran, but escaped and is now living in exile

Finally saw 'All We Imagine As Light' yesterday. Need to watch it again. A really self assured and incredibly distinctive film, that I don't think I get at all. I watched 'A Night Of Knowing Nothing' for a third time to prepare, and finally got somewhat of a grasp on it's tricky mix of fact and fiction, but 'All We Imagine As Light' does something really different. I think it's much weirder than its reputation, and that Kapadia is trying to create her very own little genre. Am I right in thinking that we never saw two of the women on the bus going south? So we hear that one woman is leaving Mumbai, we see a clip of one woman sitting in a bus looking out the window, looking happy, and then we see all three main characters getting off the bus? If that's the case, that's such an incredibly weird filmic choice, done so simply, and I love it. I'm just not sure I got it right, or if I overlooked something.