Cristian Mungiu won the Palme d’Or at the 79th Cannes film festival on Saturday for Fjord, the Romanian filmmaker’s English-language debut starring Renate Reinsve and Sebastian Stan. It was Mungiu’s second top prize at Cannes, making him the 10th director to receive two Palmes d’Or.
The win landed at the end of a slightly muted festival that was marked by disappointing returns from assorted auteurs and a distinct absence of Hollywood glitz. The 79th Cannes film festival had only two US films in competition, James Gray’s Paper Tiger and Ira Sachs’ The Man I Love, and both were ignored by the judges. Park Chan-wook presided over the jury, which included Demi Moore, Stellan Skarsgård, Chloé Zhao and Paul Laverty.
Fjord follows Romanian religious parents who relocate to Norway and are accused of child abuse. Its trophy also kept Neon on top of the Croisette, after the US distributor acquired the film and extended its run of taking the festival’s top spot for seven consecutive years. For Mungiu, it was a return to the same summit he reached in 2007 with 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days.
The rest of the closing ceremony spread the prizes across a wide field. Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Minotaur won the Grand Prix, Valeska Grisebach’s The Dreamed Adventure took the Jury prize, and the director award was tied between Pawel Pawlikowski for Fatherland and Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi for The Black Ball. Virginie Efira and Tao Okamoto won best actress for Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s All of a Sudden, while Valentin Campagne and Emmanuel Macchia took best actor for Coward.
Beyond the main competition, Sandra Wollner’s Everytime won Un Certain Regard, Marie Clémentine Dusabejambo’s Ben’Imana took the Camera d’Or for best first film, Marine Atlan’s La Gradiva won Critics Week, Too Many Beasts by Sarah Arnold won best European film in Directors’ Fortnight, and Clio Barnard’s I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning won the Audience award. Isabelle Huppert paid special tribute during the closing ceremony to Barbra Streisand, one of three recipients of honorary Palmes d’Or this year alongside Peter Jackson and John Travolta.
Streisand, prevented from visiting the Croisette by a knee injury, sent a video message to the audience at the Palais des Festivals. “In this crazy, volatile world that seems more fractured every day, it’s reassuring to see the compelling movies at this festival, by artists from many countries,” she said. She added: “Film has that magical ability to unite us, opening our hearts and minds. I’m so proud to be part of this community, so merci beaucoup and vive la cinema!”
The result gives Mungiu a rare place in Cannes history and hands Fjord immediate momentum after a festival where the biggest American titles did not break through. For a closing night that offered prizes across continents, the headline is simple: Cannes returned to one of its most durable names, and Stan’s latest festival turn ended with the industry’s highest honor.
