The man, the myth, the legend, Michael Haneke has done it again, taking home the Palme d’Or at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival for his new film Amour. The Austrian director won the coveted award in 2009 for his last film The White Ribbon and ever since the announcement of this year’s line up Haneke has been a strong favourite to do it again.
Other than Amour, all of the festival winners were somewhat surprising. Marion Cotillard missed out on the Best Actress award for her role in Jacques Audiard‘s Rust And Bone, which she had been a strong favourite for. Cotillard was actually beaten by the two young leads in Cristian Mungiu‘s Beyond the Hills, Cosmina Straten and Cristina Flutur.
Best Actor went to Mads Mikkelsen for his role in the film The Hunt, Beasts of the Southern Wild which won Best Film at this year’s Sundance Film Festival walked away with the Caméra d’or and the Best Director award was given to Carlos Reygadas for his film Post Tenebras Lux.
Somewhat surprising is that none of the American films featured at this year’s festival, including John Hillcoat‘s Lawless, Andrew Dominik‘s Killing Them Softly, David Cronenberg‘s Cosmopolis, Jeff Nichol‘s Mud and Wes Andreson‘s Moonrise Kingdom, picked up any awards.
Check out the list of winners below.
Palme d’Or: Michael Haneke – Amour
Grand Prix: Matteo Garrone – Reality
Best Actress (tie): Cosmina Straten & Cristina Flutur – Beyond the Hills
Best Actor: Mads Mikkelsen – The Hunt
Best Director: Carlos Reygadas – Post Tenebras Lux
Cannes Prix De Scenario (screenplay): Cristian Mungiu – Beyond the Hills
Jury Prize: Ken Loach – The Angels’ Share
Caméra d’or: Benh Zeitlin – Beasts of the Southern Wild