Bonjour from Cannes. Or bonjour to you all wishing you were in Cannes. The true festive season was meant to be upon as we traveled over to the French Riviera for arguably the world’s finest film festival. But beyond COVID-19 we can be there in spirit if not in body, as we are still somehow baking in the excitement here at Filmotomy.
So much so, we have scoured the internet for some of the very best films, former winners at the Cannes Film Festival over the years, available for you to stream right now. Or when you have finished that croissant. Here are 7 to feed the addiction, as part of our Cinema Sevens series, looking at some of the Best Director winners. Others will follow as comfortably and conveniently as the train from Nice.
Le Scaphandre et le Papillon / The Diving Bell and The Butterfly (2007) – Julian Schnabel
Le Scaphandre et le Papillon (The Diving Bell and The Butterfly) is an extraordinary looking film, and concept, unlike much you have seen before, or could see in the future. A grand achievement by director Julian Schnabel. The set-up is purely about perspective, we see much of the movie through the point of view of the main character. And I mean this quite literally, through his eyes.
For those who have not seen it, or know what it is about, the movie is based on real events, when Jean-Dominique Bauby (Mathieu Amalric) suffered a stroke and was left paralyzed from the head down. Bauby’s eyes guide us (well, one eye actually), not the exact way they guided him, but Schnabel certainly gives it a good go.
The film also tells the story of Bauby’s life prior to the ailment. Some of the technical story-telling is so astonishing you wonder what kind of trickery this really is. Schnabel’s direction is so tight and meticulous, it flourishes – at times you suffocate as your heart breaks. Beating the likes of Cristian Mungiu, Naomi Kawase, Wong Kar-wai, Joel and Ethan Coen, David Fincher to the directing prize was no surprise in spite of that strong competition.
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Les quatre cents coups / The 400 Blows (1959) – François Truffaut
At the 1958 Cannes Film Festival, the then universally unknown French film-maker François Truffaut was nowhere to be seen. The truth is, he was not allowed to attend that year as a result of him verbally lashing out at the competition as an institution. I won’t say he had the last laugh, as it didn’t really end there, but the very next year his debut feature film Les quatre cents coups (The 400 Blows) won over audiences at Cannes – as well as rewarding Truffaut with the Best Director prize.
Film politics are fickle, always have been, but what a victory for cinema that was. French cinema catapulted as a result, Truffaut’s immediate success (and story credit) paved the way for native big mouth Jean-Luc Godard’s very first film, À bout de souffle (Breathless) – I don’t believe many people reading this were not at all aware that the French New Wave had arrived in 1959.
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La Haine (1995) – Mathieu Kassovitz
Perhaps recognized primarily as a French actor, you will have seen Mathieu Kassovitz in the likes of The City of Lost Children, A Self Made Hero, Munich, and, of course, Amélie. But Kassovitz’s bravura achievement came in 1995, then in his mid-twenties, when he wrote and directed the brutal, brilliant La Haine (Hate). A small time crime feast trawling through the impoverished, multi-cultural French streets.
A kinetic, social drama in many respects, La Haine is not shy in throwing society’s previlent themes of race and violence at us. Kassovitz apparently started writing his screenplay on the day of a real-life shooting, adding some personal history to the mix – and the rawness shows in his directing.
At the 1995 Cannes Film Festival, the young filmmaker Kassovitz earned himself a standing ovation, as well as the Best Director prize. See the unforgettable movie if you haven’t already, so it can leave a lasting mark on you too.
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Drive (2011) – Nicolas Winding Refn
Once upon a time I felt I had exhausted my merits of Nicolas Winding Refn, both in my written form, and that personal praise I gave him for his work on directing Drive. I will, though, never stop singing the praises of that movie. So perfectly stylish and refreshingly cool, even in its very dark and violent moments. You can see the director’s blueprint all over the movie, via the edgy, yet very different, performances from main actors (Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Albert Brooks in particular), to the shifts in movement and pace.
I mean, at times it almost lingers so much it comes to a complete halt, but is not for one second tedious or uninteresting. Even the electronic music Refn uses sits right beside the chugging tone of the film’s narrative, and could have been so out of place in anyone else’s grip – but is a perfect companion to it.
However, then came the disappointing reception of Only God Forgives – I say disappointing when I perhaps means outrage. Refn’s style is there for all to see, but his impact and motives had vanished. By the time the superior, but hugely flawed, Neon Demon came about, his fan-base was already diminishing and he may well be scrambling from the mud.
Fargo (1996) – Joel Coen
Fargo seems to somehow encapsulate all that is exceptional about Joel and Ethan Coen and their repertoire of outstanding film-making. And that there is nobody else quite like them. So infiltrating, so impressive is their 1996 ground-breaker (even for Oscar voters, finally) that even today it remains their best according to many. The acting is first-rate, the Coens write and direct with such gritty fervor, Carter Burwell’s stimulating music, not to mention Roger Deakins never putting a foot wrong with his visual scope.
Taking their trademark fumbled crime kidnapping scenario to new heights, with the added mix of violence, quirky dialect, and a bold diversity of characters, Fargo also offers a genuine scope of humanity. Be it the unethical way a car salesman would treat his family for money, or the homely, grounded attitude of an efficient, jovial pregnant police trooper.
Full to the brim with set-pieces sequences of all natures, Fargo‘s layers and invigoration will never wilt. With the win here, Joel Coen now has three Best Director prizes from Cannes – and I am fairly certain he shared every one with his brother.
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Days of Heaven (1979) – Terrence Malick
Chosen above heavyweight Francis Ford Coppola for Apocalypse Now (which won the Palme d’Or), Terrence Malick triumphed as Best Director in Cannes 1979. Néstor Almendros won Best Cinematography at the Oscars, and this movie is a text-book example of the craft, even now.
I remember when I was very, very young, watching a documentary about cinematography (as you do), and there was a significant discussion on Days of Heaven. I watched film frames capture so much scenery, and the camera moving, eloquent and glorious work I, as a kid, had not really seen too much of. And was now being educated, and certainly appreciating the craft.
Malick, though, is a true master behind the camera, an artist who can incorporate his bold skill as a director into the movement and vision of the camera frame. He has since worked with the likes of cinematographers John Toll and Emmanuel Lubezki, with similarly amazing visual results. Sometimes his landscapes are untouchable, a real treat for the eyes. Days of Heaven was the promise he has soon kept. A mere 32 years would float on by before he would claim the Palme d’Or himself, for The Tree of Life.
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Punch-Drunk Love (2002) – Paul Thomas Anderson
Hooray for Cannes once again for acknowledging one of the finest, and most talented directors of today’s generation, but also rewarding one of his most under-rated works. Punch-Drunk Love is a love story more than anything else, but is smeared with Paul Thomas Anderson‘s signature ingredients. The characters are likable oddballs, especially Barry played by Adam Sandler – acting, really acting.
Anderson shoots with vigor and energy, his camera pulls back and forth as effectively as it did in Magnolia – only on a much smaller story-scale. His arsenal as a film-maker is full to the brim with expertise, he makes movies like he has been doing it since the seventies. Punch-Drunk Love is a much better film-watching experience now (and earns its place in Anderson’s consistently brilliant filmography) knowing what he has since achieved with the likes of There Will Be Blood, The Master, Inherent Vice and The Phantom Thread.
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