A few hours before the announcement of the prize list, the jury’s voices remain impenetrable.
Usually, there are a few indiscretions circulating… but as Omar Sy explained during the jury’s press conference on Tuesday May 14 – an eternity ago – its members must keep the most total secrecy. We will therefore have to content ourselves here with a few rumors or impressions. Three films stand out to critics: the spicy musical comedy “Emilia Perez” by Frenchman Jacques Audiard, the romantic drama “Anora” by American Sean Baker and finally the political “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” by Iranian Mohammad Rasoulof. Crowning the latter would have real political meaning – he was condemned and forced into exile by the Mullah regime. And if this gives any clues, it was the most applauded film of the film-loving fortnight, with jury member Nadine Labaki standing and filming the event.
If “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” was Palmé d’Or, “Emilia Perez” and “Anora” could be on the list thanks to their main actress, the Spanish Karla Sofía Gascón for the first, the young and pretty Mikey Madison for the second, unless the jury prefers to reward Demi Moore, who gives her entire body to Coralie Fargeat’s experiments in “The Substance”.
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Spoiled for choice
For the male actor prize, three names come up: Richard Gere for “Oh Canada”, even if Paul Schrader’s film did not have the expected response, Sebastian Stan for “The Apprentice” by Ali Abbasi and Ben Whishaw for “Limonov” by Kirill Serebrennikov. A reward for aesthetes, the prize for directing would go like a glove to Miguel Gomes for “Grand Tour” or to Jia Zhang Ke for “Caught by the Tides”. Unless the jury is sensitive to the gory delirium of “The Substance” or the baroque poetry of “Parthenope” by Paolo Sorrentino. The screenplay is one of the strong points of “Anora” by Sean Baker, if it is not rewarded higher in the charts. Finally, we should find a place for two beautiful films seen in extremis: “All we imagine as light” by Payal Kapadia and “The most precious of goods” by Michel Hazanvicius.
