Justine Triet’s Anatomie d’Une Chute won the Palme d’Or at the 76th Cannes Film Festival. The French director’s film about the story of a woman accused of the murder of her husband who stops the public in the process (doubting the character’s guilt or innocence) was one of the favorites and was the great winner of the ceremony. which took place this Saturday.

“It’s the most intimate film I’ve ever written,” Triet said on stage, in a speech in which he dedicated the award to “all the directors and all those who can’t make movies today.”

It is the third time in history that the Palme d’Or has been awarded to a female director. First it was New Zealand’s Jane Campion, in 1993, with “O Piano”. The second time happened two years ago, with the French Julia Ducournau winning the prize with “Titane”.

The jury for this year’s Cannes Film Festival competition was chaired by Swedish director Ruben Östlund (“Triangle of Sadness,” “The Square”), who led a team of eight judges: Julia Ducournau, Atiq Rahimi, Damian Szifron, Rungano Nyoni, Maryam Touzani, Paul Dano, Denis Menochet, and Brie Larson.

The festival’s Grand Prize went to Jonathan Glazer’s “The Zone of Interest”, a film about the Holocaust based on the book by British writer Martin Amis (who died last week). “Zone of interest” was the name used by the Nazis to designate the 40 square kilometer area surrounding the Auschwitz concentration camp. Last year, the Grand Prix of the festival was shared by “Close”, by Lukas Dhont, and “Stars at Noon”, by Claire Denis.

Here are the rest of the honors:

jury prize – “Fallen Leaves” by Aki Kaurismaki

Best Male Performance – Koji Yakusho for Wim Wenders’ “Perfect Days”

Best Female Performance – “Merve Dizdar”, from Les Herbes Sèches, by Nuri Bilge Ceylan

best achievement – Tran Anh Hung, for “The Passion of Doudin Bouffant”

best argument – Yuji Sakamoto for “Monster” by Hirokazu Kore-eda

Filmmaker accuses the French government of “commodifying culture”

On stage, director Justine Triet took advantage of the victory speech to recall the demonstrations in France against raising the retirement age from 62 to 64. “The country was traversed by an extremely powerful and unanimous historic protest against the pension reform,” she said of the move, which she called “outrageously denied.”

The filmmaker who won the highest award at the event denounced what she considers the “commodification of culture defended by the neoliberal government” and accused Emmanuel Macron’s executive of promoting a complex film financing system, subjecting the industry to a “scheme of domination of power”. ”.

Shortly after, the French Minister of Culture, Rima Abdul Malak, reacted to the accusations. “I am appalled by the unfair speech,” she wrote on Twitter. “This film would not have been possible without our French film financing model, which allows for a unique diversity in the world. Let’s not forget it,” she added.

Heureuse de voir la Palme d’or décernée à Justine Triet, la 10ème pour la France ! But her stomach is even upset by her if unfair to her. Ce film n’aurait puede voir le jour sans notre modèle français de financement du cinéma, qui permet une diversité unique au monde. Ne l’oublions pas.

— Rima Abdul Malak (@RimaAbdulMalak) May 27, 2023

Updated at 22:59 to include the director’s speech and the French culture minister’s remarks.