The Swedish director Ruben Östlund has become one of the few film-makers to win the top prize at the Cannes film festival twice. Five years after winning the Palme d’Or for The Square, he’s been honoured again for Triangle of Sadness – a satire about two models who get stranded on a desert island with a group of billionaires.
BBC Film said it was honoured to have backed the film and “thrilled that Ruben Östlund’s distinctive work has been recognised.”
The jury, led by the French actor Vincent Lindon, was less decisive on the next two awards; both the runner-up Grand Prix and the third-placed Jury Prize were shared between two films.
One of the critics’ favourites, Close, from Belgium’s Lukas Dhont and Stars at Noon by the French veteran Claire Denis shared the Grand Prix, while the Jury Prize was awarded to both EO, by Poland’s Jerzy Skolimowski, and The Eight Mountains, from the Belgian pair, Felix Van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch.
The South Korean star of a previous Palme d’Or winner, Parasite, Song Kang-ho, was named the best actor of the festival for the Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda’s dark comedy, Broker. Iran’s Zar Emir-Ebrahimi won the best actress prize for her role in the real-life crime thriller Holy Spider.
There was more success for South Korea, as Park Chan-wook – who’s previously won both the Grand Priz and the Jury Prize – was named the best director for his romance thriller Decision to Leave. And Östlund’s fellow countryman, Tarik Saleh, won the screenplay award for Boy from Heaven.
The prize for the best first feature – the Camera d’Or – went to Elvis Presley’s grand-daughter, the actress Riley Keough, for War Pony, a film she co-directed with Gina Gammell about children on a Native American reservation.
A special award to mark the 75th edition of the Cannes Film Festival was given to more Belgians – the two-time Palme d’Or winners, the Dardenne brothers – for their drama Tori and Lokita.
This year’s festival also awarded honorary Palme d’Ors to the actors Tom Cruise and Forest Whitaker.
With multiple winners from Sweden, Belgium and South Korea, extra films benefiting from shared awards or special anniversary prizes, here is the full list of winners from the official competition:
Palme d’or
TRIANGLE OF SADNESS directed by Ruben ÖSTLUND
Grand Prix (jointly awarded)
CLOSE directed by Lukas DHONT
STARS AT NOON directed by Claire DENIS
Jury Prize (jointly awarded)
EO directed by Jerzy SKOLIMOWSKI
THE EIGHT MOUNTAINS directed by Charlotte VANDERMEERSCH & Felix VAN GROENINGEN
Best Director
PARK Chan-wook for DECISION TO LEAVE
Best Screenplay
Tarik SALEH for BOY FROM HEAVEN
Prize of the 75th
TORI AND LOKITA directed by Jean-Pierre & Luc DARDENNE
Best Performance by an Actress
Zar AMIR EBRAHIMI in HOLY SPIDER directed by Ali ABBASI
Best Performance by an Actor
SONG Kang-ho in BROKER directed by KORE-EDA Hirokazu