Fjord Captures Cannes: Cristian Mungiu Wins the Palme d’Or

So, the red carpet’s been rolled up and Cannes is done for another year, with the usual dose of glamour, bizarre photo calls, and a long list of films everyone pretends they’ve already seen. Let’s take a look at who walked away with the big trophies, and yes, brace yourself – there are some names you’ll know and a few you absolutely won’t.

The Big One: Palme d'Or goes to Cristian Mungiu's Fjord

Top prize this year? That honour landed with Cristian Mungiu for Fjord, which is one of those films likely to pop up on every 'essential' year-end list. The story? Pretty bleak – Renate Reinsve and Sebastian Stan play Romanian religious parents who up sticks to a small Norwegian town. Just as they’re settling in, the couple find themselves accused of child abuse, which very much ruins the Norwegian dream. If Mungiu’s name rings a bell, he’s now officially a two-time Palme d’Or winner (his last one was back in 2007 for that harrowing bit of business, 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days). The man clearly enjoys sending festival audiences out into the night a bit shellshocked.

Other Big Winners at Cannes 2024

• Grand Prix: Minotaur (dir. Andreï Zvyagintsev) – This one’s a stylish, brooding take on The Unfaithful Wife, except now it’s set in modern Russia. So, all the bourgeois lies and secrets, but with gloomier weather and probably more vodka.
• Jury Prize: The Dreamed Adventure (dir. Valeska Grisebach) – If you know Grisebach’s thing for gentle oddness, this makes sense.
• Best Director: A rare double – Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi for La Bola Negra (yes, that’s the one with Penelope Cruz AND Glenn Close), and Paweł Pawlikowski for Fatherland. Pawlikowski’s film, by the way, follows Thomas Mann (the writer, not, like, a random bloke called Tom) and his daughter Erika, as they try to settle back into post-war Germany after years in the US. La Bola Negra seems to be the Festival’s OTT drama pick of the year.
• Best Screenplay: Emmanuel Marre (A Man of His Time)
• Best Actress: Virginie Efira and Tao Okamoto (for All of a Sudden, by Ryusuke Hamaguchi)
• Best Actor: Emmanuel Macchia and Valentin Campagne (for Coward, by Lukas Dhont)
• Special Prize: Camera d’Or (for Best First Film)
• Best Short Film: Palme d’Or for Para Los Contincantes (To Opponents), dir. Federico Luis
• Un Certain Regard – Best Film: Everytime, Sandra Wollner
• Un Certain Regard Jury Prize: Elephants in the Fog (Abinash Bikram Shah, also his first film)
• Un Certain Regard Special Jury Prize: Iron Boy, Louis Clichy
• Un Certain Regard Best Actor: Bradley Fiomona Dembeasset (Congo Boy, dir. Rafiki Fariala)
• Un Certain Regard Best Actress: Marina de Tavira, Daniela Marín Navarro, and Mariangel Villegas (for Siempre Soy Tu Animal Materno, dir. Valentina Maurel)

Cannes in a Nutshell: Trends and Takeaways

If there’s a pattern this year, it’s that the Cannes juries weren’t shy about splitting prizes between co-directors or, in a nice twist, co-leads. (You might notice a few double wins above – apparently, everyone gets a prize, Oprah-style.) Also, plenty of recognition for world cinema, from Russia to Japan to, well, wherever Coward and Para Los Contincantes were made – the international bench definitely ran deep this year.

To sum it all up: if you’ve already started a list for the year’s must-see films, pad it out with Fjord, Minotaur, Fatherland, and at least half of the other winners above. Cannes has spoken – now it’s up to us to pretend we understand what they’re on about.