With the fast approaching of the day when a ceremony will reveal the winning film of the Palme d’Or at Cannes this year, some films are already in the lead to take the prize home.
The Cannes Film Festival kicked off on May 16th with the premiere of the film “Jeanne Du Barry,” starring American actor Johnny Depp. Over the past few days, nearly 20 films in the official selection, competing for the Palme d’Or, have been screened at the Grand theatre Lumière, in Cannes.
But which films stand a real chance to win the prize? With a very diverse list of 21 productions competing for the Palme d’Or in 2023 – seven of them directed by women – the competition is certainly fierce.
Here are three films with chances to win the Palme d’Or at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival.
May December
If a massive streaming platform buying a production is anything to go by, Todd Haynes first feature since documentary The Velvet Underground screened out of Competition two years ago – is his fourth to play in Competition – is off to a good start when, halfway the Cannes Film Festival this year, Netflix bought ‘May December’ for $11 Million.
The film, starring Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore, portrays a scandalous age-gap relationship and debuted on Saturday to a six-minute standing ovation. Oscar-winner Julianne Moore plays the “December” to Charles Melton’s much-younger “May,” who was just 13 when the two fell in love. As a result of a 20-year age gap, their marriage ignited a scandal that captivated national tabloids in the past. Now, decades later, their enduring bond faces a pivotal moment of examination when May travels to Georgia to study the life of Moore’s character, whom she’s set to play in a film.
The Old Oak
The Old Oak, Ken Loach’s new film starring Debbie Honeywood and Ebla Mari, is another strong contender to win the Palme d’Or in 2023. The British production tells the story of a pub landlord in a previously thriving mining community who struggles to hold onto his pub, whilst tensions rise in the town when Syrian refugees are placed in the empty houses in the community. Loach is used to the red carpet in the French riviera: Two of his films, The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006) and I, Daniel Blake (2016), received the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, making him one of only nine filmmakers to win the award twice. Loach also holds the record for most films in the main competition at Cannes, with fifteen films.
Asteroid City
If Tiktokers could vote for best films shown in Cannes, Wes Anderson would win by a landslide with his very distinctive cinematic style that, in 2023, has been getting social media users to turn their own lives into 20-second movies wrapped with ‘The French Dispatch’ song “Obituary” by composer Alexandre Desplat.
In Asteroid City he unashamedly repeats the formula, with his signature pastel colour palette and symmetric shots. The story of a convention organized to bring together students and parents from across the country for fellowship and scholarly competition that is disrupted by world unexpected events could barely worth a short film. But with his several lateral tracking shots that long have been one of his trademarks, Wes proves that cinema can be creative and captivating to a younger audience that is more used to watch streamed content – or to chronicle their lives in 20-second short videos posted on TikTok.
The list of 21 films in competition in Cannes also includes Firebrand by Karim Aïnouz, Rapito (Kidnapped) by Marco Bellocchio, Les Filles d’Olfa (Four Daughters) by Kaouther Ben Hania, L’Été dernier (Last Summer) by Catherine Breillat, Kuru Otlar Ustune (About Dry Grasses) by Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Le Retour (Homecoming) by Catherine Corsini, The Zone of Interest by Jonathan Glazer, Club Zero by Jessica Hausner, Monster by Kore-Eda Hirokazu, Kuolleet Lehdet (Fallen Leaves) (Fallen Leaves) by Aki Kaurismäki, Il Sol dell’ avvenire (A Brighter Tomorrow) by Nanni Moretti, La Chimera by Alice Rohrwacher, Black Flies by Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire, Banel e Adama by Ramata-Toulaye Sy, La Passion de Dodin Bouffant (The Pot-au-Feu) by Tran Anh Hùng, Anatomie d’une chute (Anatomy of a Fall) by Justine Triet, Jeunesse (Le Printemps) (Youth (Spring)) by Wang Bing and Perfect Days by Wim Wenders.
On Saturday, after 11 days of Festival, the Jury will give the awards during a Closing Ceremony scheduled to take place on May 27 from 8:30 pm (Central European Time –
CET) and broadcasting live on France 2.