PARIS: Anatomy of a Fall, a French murder mystery film, has clinched the top prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
Director Justine Triet won the Palme d’Or for her tense courtroom film, which tells the story of a writer facing charges of murdering her husband.
The BBC said Triet became the third female director to win the prestigious prize, first awarded in 1955.
Her thriller film stars German actress Sandra Hüller, who also stars in ‘The Zone of Interest’, the Cannes runner-up.
As Triet accepted the award, she slammed the French government over its crackdown on recent pension protesters.
“These protests were… repressed in a shocking way,” she said in her speech after being presented with the award by Hollywood star Jane Fonda.
President Emmanuel Macron’s pension system reforms, which included raising the retirement age from 62 to 64, have recently caused huge protests in France.
Triet also slated what she called the government’s “commercialisation of culture” as leading France’s Culture Minister Rima Abdul Malak hit back, saying she was “gobsmacked” by the “unfair” comments.
The Zone of Interest, an adaptation of the same novel by the late Martin Amis about a family living close to Auschwitz, won the Grand Prix, the second-highest honour, and was directed by British filmmaker Jonathan Glazer.
Koji Yakusho of Japan won the best actor prize for his portrayal of a middle-aged toilet cleaner in Wim Wenders’ Perfect Days, while Merve Dizdar of Turkey won the title of best actress for her work in About Dry Grasses.
And Vietnamese-French director Tran Anh Hung won best director for Pot-au-Feu, a love story starring Juliette Binoche and Benoît Magimel set in a 19th century French chateau.
The festival was one of the biggest in years for celebrity names on the red carpet – Hollywood legends Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro, Quentin Tarantino, Isabella Rossellini and Sean Penn all made appearances.
The love story Pot-au-Feu, starring Juliette Binoche and Benoît Magimel and set in a 19th-century French château, directed by Vietnamese-French filmmaker Tran Anh Hung, received best director.
Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro, Quentin Tarantino, Isabella Rossellini, and Sean Penn were among the Hollywood heavyweights that appeared at the festival, one of the largest in recent years for star names on the red carpet.
