Apocalypse Now to Parasite to Anatomy of a Fall. The Cannes top-prize winners that earned their reputations.
The Palme d'Or is the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival, awarded annually by a jury of filmmakers, actors, and critics. The award has, since its 1955 introduction, become the most-prestigious single prize in international cinema. Some Palme winners have been controversial (the prize has gone to films later considered overrated); others have been recognised as the year's clearest masterpieces.
Our picks across the prize's history.
The Palme d'Or is, structurally, a more film-criticism-driven prize than the Oscars. The Cannes jury is composed of filmmakers and critics rather than industry voters; the prize is awarded after the festival rather than over a months-long campaign. This means the Palme winner is, in most years, the film the jury actually believed was the year's best, rather than the film that won the longest political campaign.
The downside: the Palme has, in some years, gone to films that aged badly. The 1980s and 1990s lists in particular contain several films now widely considered overrated. The prize has, on balance, a stronger track record than any other major film prize, but it is not infallible. The films above are the ones that have, in our reading, stood up.