Shaken, not stirred

The world's most prestigious film festival surprised the cinema world on Sunday night by giving the Palme d’Or, its main prize, to the French film “Dheepan”, directed by Jacques Audiard. 

The movie, which had its world premiere last Thursday in Cannes, received a lukewarm reception, with audiences neither hating the film nor embracing it.

With migrants making headlines all over the world, it is, however, a timely tale. “Dheepan” tells the story of a group of refugees from Sri Lanka including a former of the Tamil Tiger rebel group. Their new life in France is not easy, and before long they once again find themselves facing violence. 

“It’s important to reflect on the immigrant situation, especially now as Europe faces the biggest migrant crisis it has ever known,” Audiard told participants at the press conference after the award ceremony.

“I started writing the script five years ago and the situation in Europe wasn’t as critical as it is now. What interested me was the position of those who are so different from our society – those people who sell roses to the French as they sit in cafes.”

Most Cannes watchers had expected “Carol” by Todd Haynes, Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s “The Assassin”, or “The Lobster” by Yorgos Lanthimos to win the big prize. All these movies did of course win awards though not the one people were expecting or even hoping for. 

“There was a lot of enthusiasm among the jury for ‘The Assassin’, which is why we awarded the best director prize to this film,” said jury co-head Joel Coen, when he was asked why Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s long awaited martial arts epic didn’t get the Palme d’Or. 

“I am sure there are a lot of questions why this movie didn’t get a top prize, but you can’t give the top prize to every movie or indeed any prize to movies that all of us or some of us like,” his brother Ethan Coen added, somewhat cryptically.

The Grand Prize award this year went to “Son of Saul” (“Saul Fia”), a Hungarian film by rookie director Laszlo Nemes, who in 2011 was a participant in Cannes Residence, a programme that brought a dozen new filmmakers from around the world to stay in Paris and which included two Thai filmmakers, Sivaroj Kongsakul and Pramote Sangsorn.

But it wasn’t only the choice of the Palme d’Or winner that made waves at the festival. Many critics also questioned the official selection, particularly the absence of Arnaud Desplechin, whose film “My Golden Years” was instead picked for the Director’s Fortnight, along with Miguel Gomes’ “Arabian Nights”, a six-hour epic divided into three parts.

“Cemetery of Splendour” by former Palme d’Or winner, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, was also sidelined to Un Certain Regard instead of the main competition.

The market side, however, did not spring any surprises. Thailand’s Department of International Trade Promotion brought the usual suspects to Cannes, among them Five Star Production, Handmade Distribution, Benetone and De Warrenne Pictures. Bigger studios like GTH and Sahamongkol film rented their own booths. GTH had few titles to sell other than “Stupid Cupid” (“Nam Ta Kammateph”), a TV series that mocks Thai soap operas. Sahamongkol brought the trailers of several new titles including “Mae Bia”, an erotic film by ML. Bhandevanop Devakul, which boasts many explicit sex scenes between Chakrit Yaemnam and a new actress.

The Culture Ministry once again organised the Thai film pitch at the Thai pavilion with three projects. Wisit Sasanatieng and his producer Athimes Arunroj-angkul came to Cannes with “Suriya”, a project about a mysterious boxer, which received script development financing from Busan International Film Festival’s Asian Cinema Fund in 2011. Wasunan Hutawet, film editor and short filmmaker who participated in the Berlin Talent Campus 2012, came with “Sydney”, a project based on her own life about a woman coming back from Bangkok to her hometown by the sea. Sananjit Bangsapan (“Butterfly in Grey”, “Hit Man File”), a film critic turned director, made his comeback with the big-budget project “Uncle Ho”, which depicts the life of Ho Chi Minh while he lived in Thailand in 1928. 

In fact the only surprise, if it can be called that, was that many Thais had already flown back to Bangkok prior to the world premiere of “Cemetery of Splendour”.

Indeed, Thai people seemed much more interested in the outfits donned by actress Chompoo Araya A Hargate, who came to Cannes as the L’Oreal brand ambassador, than the only Thai film in the official selection.