Still a little patience. The winners of the 75th Cannes Film Festival will be a little more desired this year. With its passage from Canal to France 2, the closing ceremony is postponed to the first part of the evening, at 8:30 p.m. on the public channel. To the great despair of football fans who will have to choose between the Croisette and the Champions League final. With a Vincent Lindon president of the jury, little chance of reproducing the slip of Spike Lee who had revealed the name of the winner of the palme d’or from the start of the live, after having misunderstood a question from the mistress of ceremonies! The winner who will succeed Julia Ducournau and Titane will probably not be revealed before 9 p.m.
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The France Télévisions teams are counting on a one-hour program with Virginie Efira still at the presentation. At the opening, the actress and former Belgian presenter had been able to count on a singing tour by Vincent Delerm and a surprise video speech by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
As tradition dictates, the final climb of the steps, which will begin at 7 p.m., will give the opportunity to guess which feature films will be rewarded by observing which teams have been called back to the Croisette. The latest rumors announce a raid for Belgian cinema. The Dardenne brothers (Tori and Lokita), the duo Charlotte Vandermeersch and Felix van Groeningen and Lukas Dhont (Close) have reportedly been called up.
Yet snubbed by critics, the Tori and Lokita melody on the descent into hell of two young immigrants is tipped as the ultimate winner of the evening. This still hypothetical victory would be historic because it would offer a third palme d’or to the duo from across the Quiévrain, already rewarded for Rosetta and L’Enfant.
According to other echoes, Vincent Lindon could on the contrary consecrate youth, audacity and renewal in the person of Luka Dhont. A story about the dislocation of a childhood friendship, his Close made an impression by delicately addressing the question of masculinity and the weight of norms. He reveals in passing a talent, the young Eden Dabrine, 15 years old. It would be a strong signal at a time when auteur cinema is in crisis in the face of increasingly empty cinemas.
Among the teams asked to return to the Riviera are also mentioned those of the Korean thriller and darling of the press Decision To Leave by Park Chan-wook, of Without filter, a satire by Ruben Östlund already palmed for The Square, of the rickety road-movie of Hirokazu Kore-eda Our Good Stars, from James Gray’s autobiographical childhood tale Armageddon Time, the animal fable Hi-Han from competition dean Jerzy Skolimowski, Eight Mountains from Belgian couple Charlotte Vandermeersch and Felix van Groeningen and the thriller Boy From Heaven by Tarik Saleh, a portrait of the complexity of Egyptian society. Laminated by critics, Stars At Noon by Claire Denis is also one of the titles cited during the day on Saturday.
Among the surprises could be Tchaikovsky’s Wife by Russian Kirill Serebrennikov, about the composer’s wife, who for a long time remained in the shadows and with whom he married while hiding her homosexuality. The coronation of this Russian artist, breaking with the regime of Vladimir Putin, would be an event in itself in the midst of the war in Ukraine
The regulations of the Cannes Film Festival normally only allow an ex aequo prize, but not a palm cut in half. In addition, the same film can only receive one of the seven prizes of the evening among the palme, the grand prize, the jury prize, that of the screenplay, of the staging and of male and female interpretation. A trophy for the 75th anniversary of the festival could also be awarded. To decide between the 21 films in the running, Vincent Lindon is supported by the Anglo-American actress and director Rebecca Hall (Clair-Obscur), the Swedish Noomi Rapace, (Millenium) or the directors Asghar Farhadi (Grand Prize in 2021 with A hero ), Ladj Ly (Les Misérables, 2019 jury prize) and Joachim Trier (Julie in 12 chapters, best actress prize). The adage has it that a jury chaired by an actor leans towards poignant works and that that chaired by a filmmaker dubs more technical and intransigent visions. With a majority of directors alongside the French actor everything is possible at the end, diagnosed a regular, of a “homogeneous vintage but without emotional slap”.
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