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

Oof 😅

For posterity…

Ok maybe it won’t be the Audiard

so it looks like Megalopolis is not getting anything (Sean Baker is in the audience and I don't see Coppola)

Anora for the Palme?

it looks like it will win it

There it is. I can't remember what I went for but pretty sure the one vote wasn't mine

Thrilled for him! Still feel like I’m on the fence about his work in general, but always worth wrestling with

Coppola was there to give the Honorary Palm to George Lucas. But for a while I was really worried he would twin.

Sean Baker winning is great!

Not having seen any of the films, it sounds like they chose wisely for the most part. Congratulations to Greta Gerwig and the jury

the Caméra d'Or-winning film Armand by Halfdan Ullmann Tondel, the grandson of Liv Ullman and Ingmar Bergman, featuring a totally flipped out performance by Renate Reinsve, sounds very interesting to me

Of the films not in the main competition, Alain Guiraudie’s Miséricorde from the Cannes Premiere section is the one I most want to see. He is one of my favorite directors (I loved Stranger By the Lake and Staying Vertical), and I've heard great things about it

Jonathan Romney described it in very interesting terms in a podcast with Nicholas Rapold

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-249-cannes-2024-romney-on-misericordia-rumours-being/id1512801510?i=1000656578260

The Cronenberg seems to have been divisive...looking forward to seeing it though

I'm still unhappy that Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Memoria, winner of the Cannes Jury Prize in 2021 and a film that by all accounts is amazing, may never become available for me to see in the US on streaming