Sex and politics (including, but not only, the dignity of exiled director Mohammad Rasoulof’s impassioned plea for those imprisoned in Iran) is a potent blend, and Cannes 77 really hit the pulse button on it over 12 headline-hogging days. For those searching for a trend, you could call the first part of the festival lively, youth-friendly, punchy, multiplex-adjacent: a jury prize-winning musical about a Mexican sex-change gangster from Jacques Audiard ( , with Netflix), a deranged feminist body-horror from Coralie Fargeat ( , best screenplay, with Mubi), and the pumpingly potent hooker/mob Palme d’Or-winning drama from Sean Baker ( , with Neon). By the time we got to the festival’s second act – directed by Paolo Sorrentino, (Karim Aïnouz) and the Donald Trump origins story (Ali Abassi) – it was becoming clear that Cannes hadn’t seen this many boobs and bums and agents provocateurs since starlets used to strip for the paparazzi on the public beach.
Sex sells, and if you look at the line-up, there’s a sense that Cannes 2024 was also selling itself. Greta Gerwig’s jury , which will make her even more popular. (Baker underscored his win on stage by emphatically endorsing theatrical distribution.
) Jesse Plemons took best actor for Searchlight’s opening soon. Elegant arthouse beauty from Miguel Gomes was awarded best director, while the elegiac Indian drama by Payal Kapadia won the runner-up Grand Jury prize, no mean feat for a debut and the first Indian film to.
