Sean Baker's ‘Anora' Wins the Palme d'Or! [Updated]

It doesn’t always happen, but the best film won. Sean Baker’s “Anora” has nabbed the Palme d’Or. It’s the first U.S. film to get the prestigious prize since Terrence Malick’s “Tree of Life” in 2011. This also happens to be Neon’s fifth Palme d’Or in a row.

I raved about the film which features an all-timer performance from Mikey Madison as a Manhattan stripper who falls for a rich Russian playboy. Baker’s latest is an ambitious, bold, glossy and hysterically funny screwball comedy tackling upper- and lower-class divides.

If you read this site regularly, you know how big we are on Baker, one of the best working American filmmakers with such films as “The Florida Project,” “Tangerine” and “Red Rocket.” His films are pure “gutter poetry” and he’s finally been recognized with an award worthy of his talents.

Jury president, Greta Gerwig, spoke on giving “Anora” the Palme: "It felt both new and in conversation with older forms of cinema. There was something about it that reminds us of the classic structures of Lubitsch or Howard Hawks." Choosing it was "really heart-forward," she says.

I feared Mohammad Rasoulof’s “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” might win the Palme, mostly due to its socio-topical resonance, but the film and its director were merely awarded a “Special Jury Prize” which is exactly what it should have gotten.

Meanwhile, Payal Kapadia’s “All We Imagine As Light” got the Grand Prix — second place — and it was well deserved for this dreamy film tackling three Mumbai nurses who decide to escape the city. These women’s lives are depicted by Kapadia in moody and surreal fashion. It’s slow and poetic cinema that pays off in its dazy and hypnotic finale.

Jacques Audiard’s “Emilia Perez” won two awards. Best Actress for its three leads, Zoe Saldana, Karla Sofía Gascón, and Selena Gomez, although Gomez doesn’t necessarily deserve it as much as the other two. Audiard’s film also won third place, the Jury Prize.

Audiard directed a movie musical, in Spanish, about a Mexican druglord who decides to transition into a woman, leaving his family behind and starting up a new life. This was a nutso and passionate vision of a film that came to us from a director who has always been preoccupied with the roots and dynamics of male violence. 'Emilia' was slight change — a modern melodrama, filled with intrigue, and shot with dazzling colors — but no less violent than Audiard’s previous films.

Miguel Gomes won Best Director for his perplexing “Grand Tour,” which I didn’t review, but am looking forward to seeing again. The film had a lot of walkouts at its premiere, and not a ton of passion from mainstream critics, mostly due to its lack of a compelling narrative, instead opting for more elliptical and slow approach to its storytelling. It’s been called “boring” and “hard work.” Nevertheless, more highbrow publications have taken a real liking to Gomes’ film, which, once you get onto its wavelengths, can be an incredibly rewarding experience.

The biggest surprise of the evening came when Jesse Plemons won the Best Actor prize for his three performances in Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Kinds of Kindness.” Although unexpected, it was well deserved as Plemons carries the film for its first two hours. I don’t believe he’s ever given stronger performances in his career than in this film, which has Lanthimos using him in torturous and artfully absurd fashion.

Finally, Coralie Fargeat won Best Screenplay for “The Substance,” possibly the second best film I saw at Cannes, after “Anora.”

PALME D’OR
ANORA

GRAND PRIX (Second Place)
ALL WE IMAGINE AS LIGHT

JURY PRIZE (Third Place)
EMILIA PEREZ

BEST DIRECTOR
Miguel Gomes — GRAND TOUR

SPECIAL JURY PRIZE
THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG — Mohammad Rasoulof

BEST ACTOR
Jesse Plemons — KINDS OF KINDNESS

BEST ACTRESS
Zoe Saldana, Karla Sofía Gascón, and Selena Gomez — EMILIA PEREZ

BEST SCREENPLAY
Coralie Fargeat — THE SUBSTANCE