- Written by Francesca Gillett
- BBC News
Principal Justin Treat,
French murder mystery film Anatomy of a Fall won first prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
Director Justine Tritt won the Palme d’Or for her tense courtroom drama, which tells the story of a writer accused of killing her husband.
She became the third female director to win the prestigious award, which was first awarded in 1955.
Her film stars German actress Sandra Höller, who also stars in Cannes runner-up The Zone of Interest.
When she accepted the award, Triet criticized the French government for its response to recent protests over pensions.
“These protests have been suppressed… in a horrific way,” she said in her speech after it was handed over to Hollywood star Jane Fonda.
Triet also criticized what she described as “the government’s marketing of culture” – the French Minister of Culture, Rima Abdel Malek Respond , saying she was “surprised” by the “unfair” comments.
The second-highest major award went to British director Jonathan Glazer for The Zone of Interest, an adaptation of the novel of the same name by the late Martin Amis about a family living near Auschwitz.
Meanwhile, the Best Actor award went to Japan’s Koji Yakusho for his role as a middle-aged man from Tokyo who cleans toilets in Wim Wenders’s Perfect Era, and Turkey’s Merve Dizdar won Best Actress for Dry Grass.
French-Vietnamese director Tran Anh Hung won best director for Pot-au-Feu, a love story starring Juliette Binoche and Benoit 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 appeared.
Quentin Tarantino and his wife Daniella Beck pose on the red carpet
Harrison Ford was also on hand to receive an honorary Palme d’Or ahead of the premiere of his new movie Indiana Jones and the Dial of Fate.
The 80-year-old American star said she was “deeply moved and moved” by receiving the award.
The Palme d’Or is the festival’s highest honor and was awarded in 1955 by the festival’s organizing committee.
The Treat beat out 21 other films vying for the award, as it faces fierce competition from new films from acclaimed directors like Wes Anderson and Ken Loach.
