Ceylan dedicated the award to the Turkish "youth who lost their lives" in violent anti-government protests that have rocked Turkey over the last year.

Julianne Moore won best actress for her role as a shallow starlet in Cronenberg's biting Hollywood satire .

And Britain's Timothy Spall claimed the best actor prize for his role in , a lush historical biopic of 19th century painter JMW Turner by director Mike Leigh. Having won a battle with cancer in the mid-1990s, Spall fought back tears as he thanked the jury, and God "to still be alive".

Bennett Miller, 47, scooped up the best director award for , a Hollywood film based on the real-life murder of an Olympic wrestler by multimillionaire John du Pont. Critics embraced Miller's third feature film after and , and viewers were left particularly stunned by Steve Carell, whose performance as the deranged, sinister du Pont marked a complete turnaround from his previous funny man roles.

"It's really something to be supported and to have people who have faith in you and to come out the other side," Miller said.

The runner-up Grand Prix went to Italian director Alice Rohrwacher, one of two women in competition, for her lyrical look at the rural life of a family of beekeepers, .

And the third-place Jury Prize was shared by the oldest and youngest filmmakers in the race, 25-year-old Xavier Dolan for his innovative drama and Godard, 83, with the 3D extravaganza

Best screenplay went to , a harrowing drama assailing abuse of power in today's Russia by Andrei Zvyagintsev.

marked the first win at the world's biggest cinema showcase for Turkey since 1982, when by Yilmaz Guney shared the gong with by Costa Gavras.

Ceylan had already won awards at Cannes for his previous films , and Bookies had tipped even before its screening as the favourite to capture the Palme d'Or, based on his track record and a sense that he was due.

Set in Turkey's stunning Cappadocia region, the film stars Haluk Bilginer, known to international audiences from the long-running British soap opera He plays a wealthy retired actor living with his much younger, increasingly stifled wife (Melisa Sozen) and his recently divorced sister (popular comic actress Demet Akbag).

Based on short stories by Anton Chekhov, their tense triangle plays out in a quaint hotel serving hikers and motocross enthusiasts who have been drawn to the rugged landscapes.

Trade magazine said Ceylan was "at the peak of his powers" with "a richly engrossing and ravishingly beautiful magnum opus that surely qualifies as the least boring 196-minute movie ever made".

Ceylan later told reporters that while his film dealt more with "human nature" than contemporary politics, his thoughts were with those killed in his country's demonstrations.

"We had a very troubled year last year, and these young people actually taught us a lot of things and some of them sacrificed our lives for our future in a way. So they deserve this dedication I think," he said.

THE WINNERS

Main prizes at the Cannes Film Festival of 2014

Nuri Bilge Ceylan

Bennett Miller, r

Julianne Moore in by David Cronenberg

Timothy Spall in by Mike Leigh

Andrei Zvyagintsev and Oleg Negin for

, by Alice Rohrwacher

by Xavier Dolan and by Jean-Luc Godard