Best of Cannes 2017: Coppola, Haneke, Netflix row, Palme d’Or winner The Square, and Lynch and Campion’s auteur TV
Sweden’s The Square, an overlong dissection of art world pretensions, took the festival’s top prize, Coppola was a worthy best director winner, and Nicole Kidman was everywhere
This year’s Cannes Film Festival was a cocktail of celebration, controversy and chaos – so business as usual, you might say.
The celebratory feel came courtesy of the fact it was the 70th edition.
As for the chaos, that came with increased security. With airport-style metal detectors and thorough bag searches employed, screenings were delayed, not least that of Michel Hazanavicius’ infectious Jean-Luc Godard-centred film Redoubtable. But after the horrors the French people have faced over the past 18 months, and the suicide bombing that claimed the lives of 22 people in Manchester mid-festival, most were accepting of the tightened measures.
The controversy began even before the festival itself, with two films in official competition, South Korean Bong Joon-ho’s charming monster movie Okja and Noah Baumbach’s family saga The Meyerowitz Stories, owned by Netflix. France’s National Federation of Cinema Owners complained bitterly about their inclusion, given the increasingly powerful streaming service has no intention of exhibiting the films in cinemas.