Can you just imagine standing and applauding a film for 22 minutes? I’d bail at the halfway mark.
Guillermo del Toro’s “Pan’s Labyrinth” still holds the record for the longest standing ovation ever at the Cannes Film Festival at 22 minutes. I doubt it’ll ever be surpassed.
Just as an example, the lengthiest standing O this year was the 10-minute ovation for Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon”.
“Pan’s Labyrinth” did not win the Palme d’Or at the 59th Cannes Film Festival, it didn’t win any awards, but it did set the new record for standing ovation length, topping 2004’s “Fahrenheit 9/11’s” reported 20-minute reception.
Del Toro recently reflected on that moment …
“Twenty-five minutes is the commute to my office. It’s hard to describe what it is, to go that long, because the first three, four minutes, you’re bathed in a sort of realm of acceptance and joy. Ten minutes in, you don’t know what to do.”
“And in the middle of that, Alfonso Cuarón, who was next to me, gave me a strong pat on the back and he said, ‘Allow yourself to be loved, man.’ And then I just opened myself up to that ovation and it went for the full 22 minutes.”
“It felt like 22 minutes…There was no way you didn’t notice.”
Don’t get me wrong, “Pan’s Labyrinth” is a great film and, despite not winning anything at Cannes, it went on to earn six Oscar nominations with three wins.
After ‘Pan’s’ and ‘Fahrenheit,’ the other Cannes standing O bests are “Mud” (18 minutes), “The Neon Demon” (17 minutes), “The Paperboy” (15 minutes) and “Capernaum” (15 minutes). So, quality doesn’t always result in lengthy applause.