Jean-Luc Mélenchon watches, it seems, the trailer on a loop. The jury crowned Saturday evening, during the closing ceremony, the Swedish filmmaker Ruben Östlund, who makes fun of the ridiculousness of the wealthy. In Unfiltered, he more specifically enjoys reversing the balance of power between employees and their wealthy clients during a cruise. The feature film finds an amusing echo on this Croisette, where agents in white gloves welcome the actors on the red carpet and where the Indian star Deepika Padukone has an employee to carry her handbag. The Marxist captain played by Woody Harrelson could give them ideas.
After having posed with a certain know-how in front of the photographers, Andie McDowell showed a closed face during the ceremony. Because his daughter Margaret Qualley was up for the female award? Javier Bardem looked like a Mexican variety singer. Korean Park Chan-wook received the Best Director Award for Decision To Leave. The film team strongly applauded their compatriot Song Kang-ho, winner of the best actor award for his role in Our Good Stars by Japanese Kore-eda. The general level of the speeches was close to that of the sea. In the prize list, the donkeys took the lion’s share. Jerzy Skolimowski cited the names of all those who starred in Eo (ex aequo jury prize). The Polish director will leave the death in the ass of Without filter: a mule is killed there with stones by starving ex-haves. Other equines also frolic in Les Huit Montagnes, by Charlotte Vandermeersch and Felix Van Groeningen (ex aequo jury prize).
A press conference awaits the winning teams after the ceremony. The stainless Didier Allouche asks the questions. Vincent Lindon, who was not lacking in humor during the evening, reiterates the pleasure he had in working with this jury: “There was not one word higher than the other. I learned from them how to analyze a film.” Same testimony for the director Joachim Trier who assures “having to review his work” in the light of what he has learned during these last fortnight. The Swedish-Egyptian Tarik Saleh, his prize for best screenplay in hand, then explains that the Western world must understand what is at stake in the Arab world concerning Islam. To tell the power struggle between religious and political Boy from Heaven, the director had to silence “the censorship that was in [his] head.”
The evening on France 2, a record since 2013, was watched by 3.23 million viewers. Its realization required thirteen cameras and a hundred people, from sound engineers to cameramen. “France Télévisions has put in big resources. This first year will give them a lot of good ideas for the future”, assures project manager Didier Froehly.
The sky of the Truman Show displayed on the Palais des Festivals has already disappeared. Two girls with dubious blonde hair take pictures of themselves in front of the Gucci window. Restaurant owners will be able to lower the prices of their dishes. The city’s now idle 150 taxis aren’t despairing: Trade shows resume in June. At Nice airport, a few drowsy festival-goers. A pot-bellied Russian sports a jewel in the shape of a Hebrew letter covered in diamonds. He looks like that oligarch from Unfiltered who, having made his fortune off fertilizer, laughingly proclaims, “I’m selling shit!”
