It is considered good form to praise the work of a film jury, especially when one is a member of it. What can quickly become a cliché deserves to be clarified.
The verdict of a jury that engages in open discussion is not objective, but it is more than just an opinion. One’s own perspective is supplemented by others – information, references and observations that do greater justice to the complexity of the medium than a single viewpoint, however precise and informed it may be. The international composition of the jury plays its part too. And one realises just how much fun it is to talk about films.
A festival, in turn, has the added effect of, as it were, bringing films into dialogue with one another. It is hard to say whether films benefit from this in terms of their assessment. One of the outstanding works in the competition, *Notre Salut* (Emmanuel Marre, Belgium, France 2026), may well have benefited slightly from the overly conventional style of the thematically related *Moulin* (László Nemes, France 2026). The latter depicts the arrest and martyrdom of the French resistance fighter Jean Moulin. Lars Eidinger gives a hammed-up performance as Klaus Barbie, whilst the lighting and cinematography are entirely geared towards creating a dramatic effect. ‘Moulin’ explains, whilst ‘Notre Salut’ asks questions. The film centres on Henri Marre, an elusive careerist who sees the Vichy regime as the perfect setting for putting his ideas on process optimisation into practice. The director uses techniques of alienation to make their perspective clear, as the film is, after all, a speculation based on a correspondence between Marre and his wife. In this way, memory connects with us as viewers, as a question that not only moves us but also sets us in motion. The dance scenes in “Notre Salut” are among the most haunting moments of the festival.
Songs played a remarkably independent role in a surprising number of films. In the harmonious “The Man I Love” (Ira Sachs, USA 2025), friends sing folk songs to one another at a party, calmly and with fervour. In the elegant “Amarga Navidad” (Spain 2026) by Cannes regular Pedro Almodóvar, the song “Las cosas sencillas” (originally by Mercedes Sosa) is sung at a pivotal moment – and later by Almodóvar himself during the photo shoot. The highly acclaimed “Fatherland” (Pawel Pawlikowski, Poland, Germany, Italy, France 2026) ends in the ruins of a church. Thomas and Erika Mann sit on the floor whilst the organist plays Bach’s “Jesus bleibet meine Freude”; Mann weeps, finally managing to mourn the death of his son Klaus. The two Palme d’Or-winning lead actors of the war and love drama “Coward” (Lukas Dhont, Belgium, France, Netherlands 2026) meet and fall in love in a theatre troupe at the front. ‘Plaisir d’amour’, a classic French chanson, becomes their signature song; Emmanuel Macchia and Valentin Campagne won the award for Best Leading Actors and captured the audience’s hearts at the ceremony.
War and queerness – both themes explored in ‘Coward’ – also featured prominently in numerous other entries in the competition. ‘La bola negra’ by Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi (Spain, France 2025) was considered by many to be worthy of an award. The gay love story is interwoven with the Spanish Civil War and a play by Lorca thought to have been lost; the film is masterful in its execution, though perhaps a little too focused on visual spectacle. In quieter films such as “Nagi Notes” by Koji Fukada (Japan, France, Singapore, Philippines 2026), the current wars remained in the background as a soundtrack, convincingly staged as the unsettling sound of a story in which the protagonists grapple with their personal futures.
With “Soudain” (All of a Sudden, France, Japan, Germany, Belgium 2026), Ryusuke Hamaguchi restored the cinema of discourse to the festival. Staged cinematically with simple, clear means, the film follows the beginning of a friendship between two women as a long conversation about attention and care in late capitalism. It is fascinating that, of all films, the longest in the competition relies so heavily on the spoken word and holds the viewer’s attention right to the very end – a feat largely thanks to the two leading actresses. Virginie Efira and Tao Okamoto won the Palme d’Or for Best Actresses.
The selection of films for the competition was presumably guided primarily by big names – that is, directors who had previously enjoyed success at Cannes with other films. This is not an unreasonable criterion, but the results were not entirely convincing. Veteran director Almodóvar delivered a very solid performance, whilst the new films by Arthur Harari (L’Inconnu, France, Italy 2026) and Asghar Farhadi (Histoires parallèles, France, Belgium, Italy 2026) were disappointing.
This verdict does not apply to the winning film of the 79th Cannes Film Festival. One can safely call “Fjord” a winner, as it took home the (main) prizes from no fewer than three juries (the Ecumenical Jury, FIPRESCI and the festival’s Main Jury). The director, Cristian Mungiu, won the Palme d’Or for the second time, having previously won it in 2007.
Our jury’s decision in favour of this film may seem obvious – it centres on a fundamentally Christian family. However, the specific theme was less decisive for the choice than the film’s clever structure. The film challenges the viewer to take a stance, as it goes beyond simple generalisations and highlights the transitions from understandable positions to ideological rigidity.
There were exciting discoveries to be made in the side sections – when the schedule allowed. There was room there for new voices and familiar faces. The animated film *Le corset* (*Iron Boy*, France, Belgium 2026) by Louis Clichy in the *Un certain regard* section was captivating; it uses its resources cleverly and masterfully to celebrate movement as freedom, with striking animation and a narrative told with impressive timing.
Cannes – that’s luxury and cinema. Anyone who can choose will opt for the latter.