French auteur Jacques Audiard's “Dheepan”, an intimately observed, mostly Tamil-language drama about a makeshift family of Sri Lankan refugees in Paris, was the unexpected winner of the Palme d'Or at the 68th annual Cannes Film Festival on Sunday night.

“Thank you, Michael Haneke, for not making a film this year,” Audiard said as he accepted his Palme — a reference to the fact that the Austrian helmer of “The White Ribbon” and “Amour” had beaten him for the Palme his last two times in competition. 

The award was greeted with some surprise and a mixture of boos, shrugs and applause from the international press corps watching the ceremony at the Palais. “Dheepan” had drawn respectable but largely tepid reviews after its premiere; reactions were considerably less enthusiastic than they were for “A Prophet” and “Rust and Bone”. But jury co-presidents Joel and Ethan Coen noted the jury's “enthusiasm” for the film at a press conference following the ceremony.

In all, the jury handed a whopping three awards to French films, honoring Vincent Lindon for best actor and Emmanuelle Bercot for best actress, a prize she shared with Rooney Mara in “Carol”. 

“Son of Saul”, a powerfully immersive Holocaust drama from first-time Hungarian filmmaker Laszlo Nemes, received the Grand Prix, the competition's runner-up prize – after receiving some of the festival's most impassioned reviews, pro and con.

Taiwanese auteur Hou Hsiao-hsien received the festival's director prize for “The Assassin”, a visually dazzling martial-arts epic set in ninth-century China.  Juror Guillermo Del Toro praised Hou's filmmaking for speaking “in a language, a clarity and a poetry that was exceedingly strong.” 

The jury prize, effectively the competition's bronze medal, was given to Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos for “The Lobster”, a surreal sci-fi love story set in a dystopian future where marriage and procreation are mandatory and singles are given 45 days to pair up or face grim consequences. The English-language film starred Colin Farrell and Rachel Weisz. Mexican writer-director Michel Franco received the screenplay award for “Chronic”, his grimly observed English-language portrait of a Los Angeles palliative-care nurse (Tim Roth) dealing with his patients and past tragedies.

An honorary Palme was given to French director Agnes Varda, the first female recipient of the award, which was previously presented to Woody Allen, Clint Eastwood and Bernardo Bertolucci.

The ceremony was hosted by Lambert Wilson and featured a performance of “Just a Gigolo” by John C Reilly and the Flyboys.

Source: Variety