French Director Justine Triet Makes Cannes History as Third Woman to Win Palme d’Or Award for “Anatomy of a Fall”

As the third woman in history, French Justine Triet (44) could raise the coveted Palme d’Or award on stage on Saturday evening.

Triet is the director behind the winning film “Anatomy d’une Chute” (“Anatomy of a Fall”), which has German Sandra Hüller in the lead role. The film follows Hüller in the role of a writer who tries to prove her innocence, after she is suspected of having killed her own husband.

The film is described as a thought-provoking drama which, in parallel with following the drama in the courtroom, also delves into the couple’s marriage.

In his acceptance speech, Triet took the opportunity to criticize the French government and President Emmanuel Macron for it controversial pension reform, and the behavior of the authorities and the police towards demonstrators who have protested against the reforms.

– They have been suppressed in a shocking way, she said.

Trier is only the third female director to have won the Palme d’Or, which is considered the festival’s main award.

Among the previous female directors who have won is Julia Ducournau, who won with the film “Titane” in 2021. Ducournau was also on this year’s jury. The director Jane Campion, who is from New Zealand, won with the film “The Piano” in 1994.

Among the 21 directors who competed for this year’s Palme d’Or, five were former winners, but also seven female directors. It is a record in the Palme d’Or context.

Several other awards were handed out during Saturday’s ceremony, which marks the end of the 76th Cannes Film Festival:

• The Grand Prix award went to the film “The Zone of Interest”, directed by the British Jonathan Glazer.
• The award for best actor this year went to Japanese Kōji Yakusho, for his performance in the film “Perfect Days”.
• The award for best female actor went to Turkish Merve Dizdar, who plays in the film “About Dry Grasses”.
• The prize for best director went to Franco-Vietnamese Tran Anh Hung, for the film “The Pot au Feu”.
• The jury’s prize went to the film “Fallen Leaves”, directed by Finnish Aki Kaurismaki.
• The prize for best screenplay went to Japanese Sakamoto Yûji, for the film “Monster”.

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One Norwegian film was nominated in the category for “Best short film” during this year’s festival. “Tits”, directed by Eivind Landsvik, had to be beaten by the short film “27”, which was directed by French-Hungarian Flora Anna Buda.

Nevertheless, it was not a completely prize-free year for Norway during the prestigious festival. On Thursday, it became known that Norwegian Marlene Emilie Lyngstad won the festival’s student competition “La Cinef” with the exam film “Norwegian Offspring”, which she made during her education at the Danish Film School.

Last year, the Swedish director Ruben Östlund won the Palme d’Or for the second time with the film “Triangle of Sadness”.