The Square's Ruben Östlund wins his second Palme d'Or with Cannes hit Triangle Of Sadness
The Force Majeure director was one of several big winners, including Park Chan-Wook, Song Kang-Ho, Claire Denis, and more at this year's Cannes
Great news, film lovers: You no longer need to have your stopwatches out, anxiously measuring the exact length of each and every standing ovation, in order to know which films have had the best performance at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Which is to say that the fest has now handed out its official list of prizes, including the venerable Palme d’Or, which this year went to Ruben Östlund’s Triangle Of Sadness.
Ostlund’s film (the follow-up to 2017's Palme winner The Square, and his international breakout, 2014's Force Majeure) centers on a celebrity couple, Carl (Harris Dickerson) and Yaya (Charlbi Dean), whose invitation to a luxury yacht soon sees them stranded with the ultra-rich on a deserted island. Critics have praised the film for Östlund’s characteristic skewering of the moral failings and social weaknesses of the world’s elite.
Elsewhere, Park Chan-Wook pulled down his latest Cannes honor (having previously taken home the Jury Prize for his unconventional vampire film Thirst back in 2009), winning Best Director for his new detective story Decision To Leave. Park’s Thirst star and frequent collaborator Song Kang-Ho—who went from “already very famous” to “extremely internationally famous” a few years back with his starring role in Bong Joon-Ho’s Parasite—also took home a major award, winning Best Actor for his performance in Shoplifters’ Hirokazu Kore-eda’s new baby-stealing drama Broker.
Other winners at today’s festivities: Claire Denis, whose Stars At Noon tied with Lukas Dhont’s Close for the festival’s second-place Grand Prize title. EO, directed by Jerzy Skolimowski, and The Eight Mountains, directed by Felix Van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch, similarly shared this year’s Jury Prize. And despite getting warm receptions, neither David Cronenberg or James Gray—competing with Crimes Of The Future and Armageddon Time, respectively—took home awards this year. Meanwhile, neither of the really big Hollywood movies on display this year, Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis or the Tom Cruise-starring Top Gun: Maverick, were in competition at the festival.
You can see a full list of this year’s Cannes winners here.