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Belgian 'Child' upsets heavyweights
An unfancied film defied calculations of frontline critics by scooping up the Palme d'Or, writes Saibal Chatterjee.
A largely unfancied film by a pair of Belgian siblings, Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, defied the calculations of several frontline critics and upset the applecart of many high-profile Competition entries helmed by internationally feted directors by scooping up the Palme d'Or at the 58th Cannes Film Festival.
The Dardenne brothers' sixth feature, L'enfant (The Child), edged out the odds-on favourite, Austrian director Michael Haneke's politically loaded French thriller, Cache (Hidden), the critically applauded Manderlay, Danish auteur Lars Von Trier's second film in a planned anti-America trilogy that began in 2003 with Dogville, and veteran Canadian filmmaker David Cronenberg's action-packed A History of Violence.
Host country France, with an impressive crop of films in Competition this year, was widely expected to dominate the awards, announced on Saturday evening by jury president Emir Kusturica.
German-born French director Dominik Moll's Lemming, the opening film of the festival, was also, along with Cache, tipped for the top prize. Haneke had to be content with the Best Director prize.
Broken Flowers, directed by free-spirited New Yorker Jim Jarmusch, bagged the Grand Prix. Jarmusch had won the Camera d'Or in Cannes in 1984 for his debut film, Stranger than Paradise.
Broken Flowers is about a jaded bachelor (Bill Murray) who seeks to reconect with his past, represented by five old flames, in order to understand his present.
The only entry from the subcontinent in contention for an award - Vimukthi Jayasundara's sparse Sri Lankan film in the Un Certain regard section, The Forsaken Land - emerged the joint winner of the coveted Camera d'Or, am award for the best first film of a director.
The 2005 Cannes awards were evenly distributed among the three major film producing continents - North America, Europe and Asia. China's Wang Xiaoshuai won a jury prize for his sweeping drama, Shanghai Dreams, while Guillermo Arriaga won the best screenplay award for Hollywood actor Tommy Lee Jones' directorial debut, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada.
L'enfant is a quiet little film that stands out for its heart-warming humanism. It narrates the story of a young pair of lovers, 20-year-old Bruno and 18-year-old Sonia, who live off the latter's benefit and the spoils of the former's petty crimes.
Sonia has just given birth to their child and Bruno is faced with the responsibility of fatherhood.
The question that Bruno now has to ask himself is - will his unbridled, fancy-free existence allow him to slip into his new role without letting the effort show? The Dardenne brothers eke out an emotionally affecting and intellectually convincing drama from this utterly simple tale of paternity and life on the edges of an urban scenario.
The Dardenne brother, Jean-Pierre, 54, and Luc, 51, have a formidable reputation as directors and producers of documentary films. In the last six years, they have established their dominance on the Cannes Film Festival awards.
They won the Palme d'Or in 1999 for the teen drama, Rosetta, a film that also earned Emilie Dequenne the Best Actress prize.
They were back in the Cannes competition in 2002 with Le Fils (The Son). Although the top prize eluded the film, its male lead, Olivier Gourmet, was adjudged the best actor.
French hopes of making a strong impression this year were further dashed in the acting categories. The Best Actor award went to Tommy Lee Jones for his performance as a Texas ranch foreman, who undertakes a dangerous journey into Mexico with the body of a slain friend in The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada.
Hanna Laslo won Best Actress for her role as a cab driver in seasoned Israeli filmmaker Amos Gitai's Free Zone.
