The Palme d’Or is the stuff filmmakers’ dreams are made of. As Jacques Audiard’s Dheepan clinches the most coveted award in the world of cinema this year, here’s a list of past winners that you must experience if you haven’t already. Oh and if you haven’t seen the Dheepan trailer yet, here it is.
And yes (before you’re up in arms), films like The Third Man (1949), Taxi Driver (1976), Apocalypse Now (1979), Pulp Fiction (1994) etc are not on this list since they’ve become a regular feature of our popular cinema discourse.
Amour (2012)
Michael Haneke, responsible for some of the most towering works of postmodern cinema, demonstrates the horrors of old age, the fragility of life, and a love story that runs on naked truths. Jean-Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva, two great figures of French cinema play the octogenarian couple with heartbreaking truthfulness to build a romance that will endure till cinema lasts.
The Conversation (1974)
Inspired by Michelangelo Antonioni’s Blow-Up (1967), this psychological thriller explores the moral dilemma of a surveillance expert when he discovers a potential murder plan. A highly relevant film in today’s technology obsessed world, Francis Ford Coppola offers a tour de force of existentialist paranoia with an Orwellian touch.
MASH (1970)
Remember M*A*S*H, the TV series? Well, the Robert Altman film (which was itself based on the 1968 novel) that inspired it, is the satire you should not overlook at any cost. The US military and the war politics get satirised with such bold, savage strokes that laughing out loud is not an option, but a compulsion. Bloody, subversive and radical, this ensemble comedy is the work of an American master at the peak of his creative outburst.
Blue Is the Warmest Colour (2013)
Abdellatif Kechiche’s intimate drama follows the evolution of Adèle from teenage to adulthood, and how her life enters an emotional vortex when Emma pierces her life. Though widely infamous for its sex scenes, this three hour long film is so captivating in its emotional honesty that it can break you brick by brick. Léa Seydoux and Adèle Exarchopoulos are glorious in their raw and unflinching portrayals of Emma and Adèle.
The Cranes Are Flying (1958)
Two lovers, Veronika and Boris, united by love, but separated by war. This sounds like the premise of any other war film. What makes Mikhail Kalatozov’s work special is that it explores the ravages of war with compassion and irony, completely stripped of jingoism. Veronika’s ache to be with her lover while her country basks in the colours of patriotism forms the core of this key film of post-war Russian cinema. And Tatyana Samojlova as Veronika is pure poetry.
The Son’s Room (2001)
A simple premise ― a family dealing with their young son’s death, Nanni Moretti’s moving portrait of grief is a film that sums up life in the ink of empathy. You will cry your heart out while watching it, but don’t be afraid, you’re about to experience immeasurable tenderness.
The Child (2005)
Dardenne brothers’ social realist drama about a young couple and their newborn baby is a film of rare power because it doesn’t do anything dramatic to amplify the actions of its protagonists but observes them in their world of flaws and affections. The road to redemption is shot with bare minimum resources, and it takes you along the journey, amusing you, horrifying you, questioning you, and above all uplifting you.
Kagemusha (1980)
A preamble to Akira Kurosawa’s seminal work, Ran (1985), this period epic takes us to a world of political turmoil in feudal Japan. A petty criminal is taught to impersonate a dying warlord and the hypnotism of power slowly corrupts him. A splendid costume drama with grand scale, Kurosawa made the film post a grave personal crisis, and showed us what a master is capable of.
The Piano (1993)
Ada, a mute woman with a piano lands up in mid-19th century New Zealand for an arranged marriage, and finds herself drawn into a strange game of seduction. Jane Campion’s beguiling drama brings romance out of the unlikeliest of set-up, and Ada’s little daughter who isn’t fully aware of the repercussions of her actions brings a tragic richness to the narrative spin. With extraordinary images and haunting music, the majestic sweep of this film is like the unfolding of a Mozart concerto.
Underground (1995)
Placing two friends through years of Yugoslavia’s history, Emir Kusturica’s cinematic miracle preposterously balances black comedy with a strong political commentary. The film is a sprawling tale of the unspeakable horrors that war dishes out, exploitation that political corruption supplies, and the grief that’s concealed in the timelessness of eternity. Funny, absurd, political and philosophical, this is a flat out masterpiece.
So which one will you get your hands on first?
(The writer is a journalist and screenwriter who believes in the insanity of words, in print or otherwise.)
Twitter - @RanjibMazumder
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