Austrian director Michael Haneke’s somber drama “The White Ribbon” claimed the top prize Sunday at the Cannes Film Festival, where Quentin Tarantino and Lars von Trier entries earned the acting honors.
It was a big night for Austria, whose triumphs included Christoph Waltz as best actor for Tarantino’s World War II epic “Inglourious Basterds.” Charlotte Gainsbourg won the best-actress honor for von Trier’s “Antichrist,” a film that riled and repelled many Cannes viewers with its explicit images of physical abuse involving a grieving couple.
Haneke addressed his wife as he accepted his award, noting that “happiness is very rare.”
“This is one moment in my life in which I’m very happy, and so are you, I believe,” said Haneke, who received the festival’s Palme d’Or for his gorgeously photographed black-and-white tale. “The White Ribbon” examines themes of communal guilt, distrust and punishment among residents of a small German town besieged by tragedies and strange occurrences as World War I approaches.
The second-place grand prize went to French director Jacques Audiard’s prison drama “A Prophet,” about an illiterate inmate who educates himself and becomes a player in drug and smuggling circles.
Gainsbourg delivers a terrifying performance as a psychotic woman torturing her husband (Willem Dafoe) and mutilating herself during a trip to the woods intended as a healing sojourn after the death of their child.
Waltz earned the best-actor award for his gleefully homicidal role as Nazi Col. Hans Landa, renowned in Germany as an ace “Jew hunter” in “Inglourious Basterds,” Tarantino’s rewrite of the history books that follows the exploits of a band of Jewish Allied commandos led by Brad Pitt. Tarantino spins a wildly different take on how the war ended as Pitt’s crew plots to take out top Nazi leaders at a film premiere in Paris.
“Above all I owe this to Hans Landa and his unique and inimitable creator, Quentin Tarantino,” Waltz said. “You gave me my vocation back.”
Gainsbourg thanked Dafoe and von Trier, “who allowed me to live what I believe to be the strongest, most painful and most exciting experience of my whole life.” She also thanked her father, the late singer and actor Serge Gainsbourg, who would have been “proud and shocked, I hope.”
The nine-member Cannes jury headed by French actress Isabelle Huppert, which included actresses Robin Wright Penn and Asia Argento and director James Gray, presented a special award to beloved French filmmaker Alain Resnais, who was in the competition with the offbeat tale “Wild Grass.” The film follows the odd relationships that spring up after a married man forges a relationship with a woman whose stolen wallet he recovers.
Several well-received entries among the 20 Cannes competition films were shut out for prizes, including two from past Palme d’Or winners — Jane Campion’s historical pageant “Bright Star” and Ken Loach’s soccer-themed comedy “Looking for Eric.”
Also snubbed were Academy Award winners Ang Lee for his rock ‘n’ roll comedy “Taking Woodstock” and Pedro Almodovar for his tragic romance “Broken Embraces.”
British director Andrea Arnold’s teen drama “Fish Tank” and South Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook’s vampire romance “Thirst” shared the festival’s jury prize, the third-place award. Arnold won the same prize with her first film, “Red Road,” in 2006, while Park won the festival’s second-place honor with “Old Boy” in 2004.
The directing award went to Filipino filmmaker Brillante Mendoza for “Kinatay,” a harsh story centered on police inflicting bloody retribution on a prostitute who crossed them.
Chinese director Lou Ye’s “Spring Fever,” a tale of forbidden romance involving homosexual relationships, won the screenplay award for writer Feng Mei.
The prize for best first film went to Australian writer-director Warwick Thornton for “Samson and Delilah,” his love story about two teens living in an isolated aboriginal community.
Cannes Film Festival Prize Winners List
Awards presented Sunday at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival, chosen by a jury headed by French Actress Isabelle Huppert:
โขPalme d’Or (Golden Palm): “The White Ribbon,” by Michael Haneke (Austria)
โขGrand Prize: “A Prophet,” by Jacques Audiard (France)
โขJury Prize: “Fish Tank,” by Andrea Arnold (Britain) and “Thirst,” By Park Chan-wook (South Korea)
โขSpecial Prize: Alain Resnais
โขBest Director: Brillante Mendoza, “Kinatay” (The Philippines)
โขBest Actor: Christoph Waltz, “Inglourious Basterds” (United States)
โขBest Actress: Charlotte Gainsbourg, “Antichrist” (Denmark)
โขBest Screenplay: Feng Mei, “Spring Fever” (China)
โขCamera d’Or (first-time director): “Samson and Delilah,” by Warwick Thornton (Australia)
โขBest short film: “Arena,” by Joao Salaviza (Portugal)
Actor Gene Hackman, Wife Betsy Arakawa and Their Dog Were Dead For Some Time, Warrant Shows
Oscar-winner Gene Hackman, his wife and one of their dogs were apparently dead for some time before a maintenance worker discovered their bodies at the couple's Santa Fe home, according to investigators. Hackman, 95, was found dead Wednesday in a mudroom and his 65-year-old wife, Betsy Arakawa, was found in a bathroom next to a space heater, Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office detectives wrote in a search warrant. There was an open prescription bottle and pills scattered on a countertop near Arakawa. Denise Avila, a sheriff's office spokesperson, said there was no indication they had been shot or had any wounds. The New Mexico Gas Co. tested the gas lines in and around the home after the bodies were discovered, according to the warrant. At the time, it didn't find any signs of problems and the Fire Department found no signs of a carbon monoxide leak or poisoning. A sheriff's detective wrote that there were no obvious signs of a gas leak, but he noted that people exposed to gas leaks or carbon monoxide might not show signs of poisoning. The gruff-but-beloved Hackman was among the best actors of his generation, appearing as villains, heroes and antiheroes in dozens of dramas, comedies and action films from the 1960s until his retirement in the early 2000s. "He was loved and admired by millions around the world for his brilliant acting career, but to us he was always just Dad and Grandpa. We will miss him sorely and are devastated by the loss," his daughters and granddaughter said in a statement Thursday. Worker found bodies of Hackman and his wife A maintenance worker reported that the home's front door was open when he arrived to do routine work on Wednesday, and he called police after finding the bodies, investigators said. He and... Read More