But Triet’s film was also considered a worthy victor: firstly because it’s excellent, and also because it helps redress – a bit – Cannes’ long-standing allergy to female filmmakers, as only the third feature to have been directed by a woman to be so recognised. (The other two were The Piano, by Jane Campion, in 1993 – which shared the honour with a Chinese film, Chen Kaige’s Farewell My Concubine – and Julia Ducournau’s Titane, in 2021.)
Elsewhere, the jury’s picks were typically international. Best director went to the French-Vietnamese filmmaker Tran Anh Hung for his 19th century foodie epic The Pot-au-Feu. Best Actress was Turkey’s Merve Dizdar, from Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s About Dry Grasses, and Best Actor Japan’s Koji Yakusho, who stars as a genial toilet cleaner in Wim Wenders’ Tokyo-set character study Perfect Days.
Best screenplay was Japan’s too: it went to Yuki Sakamoto, the writers of the coming-of-age drama Monster, from Cannes regular Hirokazu Kore-eda.
