‘Parthenope’ with a dry mouth
May 25, 2024
TO Cannes Italy is once again left empty-handed. As has been the case since 2022, no prizes or recognition for our cinema which was featured in the festival’s palmarès with the film ‘Parthenope‘ by Paolo Sorrentino. There Palme d’Or 2024 is American and bears the name of ‘Anora’ di Sean Baker, one of the most controversial and provocative filmmakers of his generation, who confirmed his style by presenting a comic odyssey that ridicules the myth of the modern Prince Charming and the nouveau riche of the East. The victory of ‘Anora’ marks a new milestone for Baker, director of ‘The Florida Project’ and ready to amaze again with his irreverence. It is also, surprisingly, the fifth consecutive Palme d’Or won by independent distributor Neon, after ‘Parasites‘, ‘Titan‘, ‘Triangle of Sadness‘ and last year’s winner, ‘Anatomy of a Fall.’ “I really don’t know what’s going on right now,” were the first words Baker spoke.
While ‘Anora’ was undoubtedly the most acclaimed film of the festival, its win was a slight surprise. The story in a Brooklyn of sex, poverty, blackmail and a lot of loneliness that revolves around the adventure of a stripper who marries a party-loving scion of oligarchs, struck for its vision of a society without filters and modesty but many expected it to win the delicate Indian drama “All We Imagine As Light” or the Iranian film “The Seed of the Sacred Fig”. Both films also took home awards but not the most important one. But that wasn’t the only surprise of the closing ceremony. Before George Lucas received the honorary Palme d’Or, his old friend and sometime collaborator Francis Ford Coppola appeared to present it to him, bringing together two of the most crucial figures of the last half-century of American cinema.’All We Imagine As Light’, about sisterhood in modern Mumbai, it won the Grand Prix, Cannes’ second highest honor. Payal Kapadia’s second feature film was the first Indian in competition at Cannes in 30 years.
The jury awarded a special prize to ‘The Seed of the Sacred Fig’ by Mohammad Rasoulof, a drama secretly made in Iran. Days before the film’s premiere, Rasoulof, who was facing an eight-year prison sentence, fled Iran on foot. His film, which includes real footage of the 2022-2023 Iranian demonstrations, channels Iranian oppression into a family drama. The Cannes audience greeted an emotional Rasoulof with a long standing ovation. Coralie Fargeat’s body horror film “The Substance,” starring Demi Moore as a Hollywood actress who takes gory extreme measures to stay young, won for the best screenplay. “I really believe that films can change the world, so I hope this film is a small stone on which to build new foundations” – said Fargeat – “I really think we need a revolution and I don’t think it’s started yet.” Some thought Moore could have won best actress, but the award instead went to an ensemble of actors: Karla Sofía Gascón, Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez and Adriana Paz for Jacques Audiard’s “Emilia Perez,” a Spanish-language musical about a Mexican drug lord who passes on to a woman. Gascón, who accepted the award, is the first trans actress to win a major prize at Cannes.”Emilia Perez” also won the jury prize at Cannes. Best Actor went to Jesse Plemons for “Kinds of Kindness” by Yorgos Lanthimos.
In the film, three stories are told largely with the same company of actors. Plemons, the protagonist in several chapters, did not attend the closing ceremony. Portuguese director Miguel Gomes won the best director award for his “Grand Tour,” an Asian odyssey in which a man flees from his fiancée from Rangoon in 1917 The Camera d’Or, the award for best first film in all the official Cannes selections, went to Halfdan Ullmann Tondel (grandson of the Swedish director Ingmar Bergman and the Norwegian actor Liv Ullman) for “Armand”, with “The Worst Person in the World” star Renate Reinsve. During the short awards ceremony, Lucas received the honorary Palme d’Or. During the festival, Cannes paid the same homage to Meryl Streep and the Japanese anime factory Studio Ghibli. Italy, however, stood by and watched. The last Italian film to enter the festival’s palmarès remains ‘The Eight Mountains’ by Felix Van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch, which won the jury prize in 2022. For this 2024, the award remains for ‘IO dannati’ by Roberto Minervini who on Saturday won the award for best director in the ‘Un certain regard’ section.
