Spike Lee Wanted ‘A Hero’ to Win the Palme d’Or

An interesting conversation occurred this morning.

It was quite clear in June that Spike Lee wanted Asghar Farhadi’s “A Hero” to win the Palme d’Or. I heard it from numerous sources and another person mentioned it again this morning. It’s not like Spike hid it either, he was acting all jubilant after the film’s Palais screening at Cannes, even hugging Farhadi and his cast.

Lee also wanted to reward Catherine Corsini’s “La Fracture.” How the jury decided on Julia Ducournau’s “Titane” remains a total mystery to this day, but it does look as though it was a compromise pick by the jury — they all either liked or loved it, so they gave it the top prize. Oddly enough, the biggest fan of Ducournau’s film was French-Canadian singer/songwriter, Myelène Farmer.

Meanwhile, filmmakers Mati Diop and Jessica Hausner were the ones in the jury going hard for the critical favourite, Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “Drive My Car.” It ended up receiving the scteenplay award.

Looking back at this year’s competition, it was a very good year with “Drive My Car,” “Red Rocket,” “Benedetta,” “Memoria,” “France,” “Bergman Island,” “A Hero,” “Nitram,” “The Worst Person in the World,” and, even, “The French Dispatch” (which plays much better on second viewing).