Fjord by Romanian director Cristian Mungiu won the Palme d'Or at the 79th Cannes Film Festival.
Hope by director Na Hong-jin, which drew anticipation as it advanced to the Cannes competition for the first time in four years since Park Chan-wook's Decision to Leave, did not make the winners list. After its first screening on the 17th, it received rave reviews from critics around the world, but it was not included in the jury's final choices.
At the closing ceremony of the 79th Cannes Film Festival held on the 23rd (local time) at the Grand Théâtre Lumière in Cannes, France, the top prize, the Palme d'Or, went to Fjord. Fjord is a film about a couple who move from the husband's country, Romania, to the wife's country, Norway, and face conflict as they are accused of child abuse.
Director Cristian Mungiu previously won the Palme d'Or in 2007 for 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days. This is his second Palme d'Or, making him the 10th in Cannes history to win more than once. In 2012, he won the Cannes screenplay award for The Wonders, and in 2016, he received the directing award for Graduation.
Cristian Mungiu said, "Cinema should speak to important issues to understand where the world is heading," and added, "We can tell such stories by observing the people around us, the ones we love." He went on, "Today's society is divided and radicalizing," and said, "This film is a statement against all forms of extremism, and a message about tolerance, inclusion and empathy."
The Grand Prix, the second-place award, went to Minotaur by Russian director Andrey Zvyagintsev. Minotaur is set in Russia in 2022 and follows a successful chief executive officer (CEO) whose life is shaken as he is caught in turmoil inside and outside his company. It blends drama and thriller to portray his struggle as a CEO who must send personnel to the Russia-Ukraine war and his anguish as a husband who learns of his wife's affair.
Director Andrey Zvyagintsev previously won the Cannes screenplay award in 2014 for Leviathan, which criticized Russian bureaucracy and corruption, and took the Golden Globe for foreign-language film the following year in the United States. For Loveless (2017), which depicted Russia's sense of loss, he received the Cannes Jury Prize.
The directing award had co-winners. Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo, the two directors of La Bola Negra, and Pawel Pawlikowski for Fatherland shared the honor. The Jury Prize went to German director Valeska Grisebach for The Dreamed Adventure. The screenplay award went to Emmanuel Marre's Notre Salut.
Acting awards were shared by two performers in a single film. Best actor went to Emmanuel Macchia and Valentin Campagne, the two leads in Lukas Dhont's Coward. Virginie Efira and Okamoto Dao, who appeared in Japanese director Hamaguchi Ryusuke's new film All of a Sudden, jointly won best actress.
This year's Cannes Film Festival, which concluded its 12-day run from the 12th to the day of the ceremony, was led in the competition jury by director Park Chan-wook as jury president. Nine members, including U.S. actor Demi Moore, Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgård, Chinese director Chloé Zhao and Belgian director Laura Wandel, judged 22 competition entries.