‘Titane’ Wins Palme d’Or

BY SCOTTIE KNOLLIN

With strict protocols in place to help keep the event from becoming a COVID-19 super-spreader event, the 74th Cannes Film Festival ushered in a refreshed festival and awards season after a year of adapting to major change. In fact, due to the fast-growing pandemic, the 2020 festival was canceled, giving the 2021 iteration even more notability.

Over 20 films screened in competition for the Palme d’Or. The jury, led by filmmaker Spike Lee, chose to award Julia Ducournau’s “Titane” with the prestigious prize. Ducournau is only the second female director to win the Palme d’Or. Jane Campion previously won the award for 1993’s “The Piano”.

“Titane” tells the story of a serial killer impregnated by a car who disguises herself as the adult version of a boy who went missing a decade earlier in order to move in with the still-grieving father. Yes, an unconventional, but inspired, choice. In addition to Lee, the jury which chose the film included filmmakers Mati Diop, Kleber Mendonça Filho, and Jessica Hausner, actors Maggie Gyllenhaal, Mélanie Laurent, Tahar Rahim, and Song Kang-ho, and singer-songwriter Myléne Farmer.

Traditionally, the Palme d’Or winner goes on to earn other impressive accolades throughout awards season, most usually as a top competitor for the Academy Award for Best International Feature. In 2020, “Parasite” became the second Palme d’Or winner to triumph at the Oscars with a win for Best Picture. “Titane” will have a more difficult awards season ahead of it if it is destined to repeat the same trajectory, due to its unusual premise.

The Grand Prix prize, the festival’s second place designation, went to two films: Asghar Farhadi’s “A Hero” and Juho Kusomanen’s “Compartment No. 6”. The Jury Prize also went to two films: "Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s “Memoria”, starring Tilda Swinton, and Nadav Lapid’s “Ahed’s Knee”.

For his musical “Annette”, which opened the festival, Leo Carax was given the Best Director award. The film stars Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard and features original music by Sparks. It will be released in limited cinemas and on Prime Video in August in the U.S.

Japanese director Ryusuke Hamaguchi received the Best Screenplay prize for “Drive My Car”, an adaptation of a Haruki Murakami short story.

For acting, Renate Reinsve was named Best Actress for "The Worst Person in the World” while Caleb Landry Jones was named Best Actor for “Nitram”, Justin Kurzel’s film about the 1996 Port Arthur massacre.

In addition to competitive awards, the festival presented Honorary Palme d’Or awards to Jodie Foster and Marco Bellocchio.