Boos, hisses, even howls of pain have greeted the announcements of the winning films, at a festival known for being vocal
There really isn’t anything quite like the Cannes Film Festival. Each May, the movie world collapses on the French Riviera for a fortnight that feels like a cross between film school and a James Bond movie. The parties are on yachts, the critics are in tuxedos, and the most revered auteurs from every corner of the map premiere their latest works amid a flashing mob of paparazzi. It’s a perfect storm of high art and low culture, and—for better or worse—it makes for viewing conditions unlike those of any fest. Sometimes that means epic standing ovations, and sometimes that means people standing up and denouncing a major director as soon as the credits roll. It’s no surprise that Cannes has seen more brouhahas, dust-ups and finger-wagging than any other festival on Earth, and the biggest shockers of all are often saved for the awards ceremony on closing night. As this year’s edition kicks off, we take a look at the 10 most controversial winners in the history of the fest.
RECOMMENDED: Full coverage of the Cannes Film Festival
Today considered one of the best films of all time, Federico Fellini’s magnum opus was probably destined for the Palme d’Or regardless of the shenanigans surrounding its Cannes premiere. Still, it didn’t hurt when the Catholic Church denounced the movie for its loose morals and subversive attitude, thus making La Dolce Vita the hottest ticket on the Croisette.
Steven Soderbergh’s breakthrough had a glorious debut at Sundance, winning the Audience Award, then went on to Cannes, where it took the Palme d’Or and the FIPRESCI Prize. Honestly, no one complained that vigorously—except for Spike Lee, who clearly felt Do the Right Thing was worthier. He wanted to take out his aggression on jury president Wim Wenders, who notoriously called the character of Mookie “unheroic.”
A worthy Palme d’Or winner, right? Well, allow Cannes to retort: The first midnight screening was a sensation, but by the time Quentin Tarantino had claimed the fest’s highest prize, a critical backlash was already in force. The director accepted his award to jeers, possibly launched by those who felt that Krzysztof Kieślowski's Three Colors: Red—the culmination of his trilogy—should have prevailed.
Despite the fact that Michael Moore’s inflammatory anti-Bush screed earned a 20-minute standing ovation at its Cannes premiere (one of the longest in the festival’s history), Quentin Tarantino and his jury’s decision to award the doc the Palme d’Or was seen by some as a provocative political statement. “What have you done?” Moore asked from the podium when receiving his prize. At the height of an election year, it was as if the film world had just cast its vote in public.
Abdellatif Kechiche’s steamy lesbian drama gave Cannes audiences the vapors, but its path to the Palme was complicated by reports that the director had heinously mistreated his crew, and accusations from critics like The New York Times’ Manohla Dargis that the movie “registers as more about Mr. Kechiche’s desires than anything else.” The day after its festival win, the author of the graphic novel on which the film is based denounced the adaptation as “porn.”
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