- Title: FRANCE: 'SECRETS AND LIES' WINS GOLDEN PALM AT CANNES FILM FESTIVAL
- Date: 21st May 1996
- Summary: DIRECTOR DAVID CRONENBERG AND ACTRESS ROSANNA ARQUETTE OF "CRASH" ARRIVING PHOTOGRAPHERS
- Embargoed: 5th June 1996 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: CANNES, FRANCE
- Country: France
- Reuters ID: LVABJ1N8AOLOQZ4QZ24O5Z4UYNMQ
- Story Text: Britain's Mike Leigh -- famed for making films about "real" people -- swept the rug from under the feet of big-name directors at Cannes this year, clinching the coveted Golden Palm at the 49th film festival.
The likes of Bernardo Bertolucci, Robert Altman and Chen Kaige among others had dominated the competition selection, but departed the Monday (May 20) night ceremony empty-handed.
Francis Coppola's jury awarded Leigh for "Secrets and Lies", a tragi-comic search for a girl's natural mother, and his lead Brenda Blethyn for best actress.
"It's wonderful, delightful, terrific," an overwhelmed Leigh, 53, told a news conference. He hailed the award as a confidence-booster -- it gives British films, which do not enjoy the rich takings of its U.S. rivals or the lavish subsidies of the French, a major boost.
Blethyn was similarly bowled over.
"I didn't expect that. I'd gone back to London to work. Luckily I'd left the suitcase in the trunk of my car so I didn't have to pack it again," she said.
The best actor award was shared by Daniel Auteuil and Pascal Duquenne, the co-stars of Jaco Van Dormael's sentimental Belgian drama "The Eighth Day".
"The film helped us to liberate our emotions," Auteuil said, while his co-lead Duquenne said filming had made him so happy, he had cried.
The other favourite for the lucrative slot, maverick Danish director Lars von Trier, won the runner-up Grand Prix for the alluring melodrama "Breaking the Waves".
It was a big year for English-language pictures, with British, American, Australian and Canadian entries winning the most awards and French-language efforts taking the rest.
An optional award, for "originality, audacity and daring," was presented to David Cronenberg's auto-erotic "Crash" in a move that Coppola acknowledged was the result of heated debate among the 10 jury members.
"The fact they have to invent a prize to address my film makes perfect sense because the film is unique, not like other films," he said en route to the post-awards party at the nearby Carlton Hotel.
Duquenne, who arrived in Brussels on Tuesday to rapturous welcome and champagne, declared he wants to continue acting and would like to appear alongside one of France's best known actors, Gerard Depardieu.
Offbeat road movie "Flirting With Disaster" by David O. Russell ended the eleven-day film jamboree on a welcome comic note after an otherwise relentless diet of gloom.
Most of the Cannes winners are expected to pop up on the U.S.
festival circuit this fall and open prior to year's end. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None