Cantet's The Class Wins 2008 Palme d'Or
French Film Awarded Top Prize at Cannes Film Festival 2008
May 26, 2008
The winner of this year's Palme d'Or at the 61st Cannes film festival is French film The Class (Entre les Murs). Jury president Sean Penn announced the results on 25th May 2008. Directed by Laurent Cantet, The Class is a moving portrayal of life in a challenging Parisian high school. Real life teacher Francois Begaudeau wrote the novel on which the film was based, and also plays himself in the film. This adds an illuminating depth and realism. The Class is a scripted film, but most of the dialogue was improvised, keeping the film very true to reality. In many ways it is reminiscent of Etre et Avoir, the much loved 2002 Nicolas Philibert documentary. Both films share a tirelessly inspirational outlook.
The Jury
The high caliber jury this year consisted of:
- Sean Penn (Jury President, Actor/Director, Into the Wild)
- Alfonso Cuaron (Director, Children of Men)
- Natalie Portman (Actress, The Other Boleyn Girl)
- Marjane Satrapi (Director, Persepolis)
- Sergio Castellitto (Actor/Director My Mother's Smile)
- Jeanne Balibar (Actress, Clean)
- Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Director, Tropical Malady)
- Rachid Bouchareb (Director, Days of Glory)
- Alexandra Maria Lara (Actress, Downfall)
After watching the 22 films in the official selection for the Palme d'Or, including hotly anticipated contenders such as Blindness (Fernando Meirelles), Che (Steven Soderbergh) and Palermo Shooting (Wim Wenders), the jury reached a unanimous decision. They have been explaining the reason for their decisions at an awards press conference. This is the fifth time such a decision has been taken, and it makes for some very interesting and revealing insights.
Why Did The Class Win?
Marjane Satrapi, the director of Perspolis, explained why they chose The Class as Palme d'Or winner:
"We all fell in love with it immediately. It's a film that goes beyond the bad neighborhoods, beyond school, to raise the real question of democracy, of all these people who live together. What's more, it doesn't give any answers. Often [in a film], you see a teacher who miraculously settles all the problems in the end. This film doesn't give any answers, but it contains all the questions that are troubling people. I'm also impressed by the quality of the acting and the obvious realism. I was a fervent admirer of this film."
Sean Penn elaborates:
"One of the reasons that we agreed unanimously on the Palme d'Or – we start with the art of film. And in that integration and completeness of integration: virtually a seamless film. All of the performances: magic. All of the writing: magic. All of the provocations, and all of the generosity: magic. It's simply everything that you want film to give you....”
The Other Winners of Note at Cannes
- The Grand Prix went to Gomorra by Matteo Garrone
- The best actor award went to Benicio Del Toro for his performance in Che, directed by Steven Soderbergh
- The best actress award went to Sandra Corveloni for her performance in Linha de Passe, directed by Walter Salles and Daniella Thomas
- The best director award went to Nury Bilge Ceylan for Three Monkeys.
Factual information and quotes taken from the official website: Festival de Cannes. and IMDb
Further reading on awards ceremonies which may be of interest to foreign film fans: Pan's Labyrinth World Cinema Win
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