Titane, the fantasy drama film directed by Julia Ducournau, won the Palme d’Or at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival.
The win made Julia Ducournau the second woman to win the high honour. Previously, director Jane Campion won it in 1993 for The Piano.
According to a report by the BBC, Titane was one the most shocking films to be ever be screened at the film festival. The film follows a female serial killer who has sex with cars.
The last film to win the Palme d’Or was Bong Joon-Ho’s Parasite in 2019.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the award was accidentally revealed prematurely by director Spike Lee. He made the big reveal at the beginning of the ceremony but Ducournau did not accept the award until the official announcement was made at the end of the night.
Acknowledging his mistake during the formal announcement, Lee said, “In 63 years of life I’ve learned that people get a second chance, this is my second chance. I apologize for messing up. It took a lot of suspense out of the night I understand, it wasn’t on purpose.”
Reacting to her win, Julia Ducournau said, “Tonight I am on this stage and I know my movie is not perfect, but I don’t think any film is perfect in the eyes of the person who made it, some may even say it’s monstrous”.
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She also spoke about how there will more women who will go on to win the prize in the future. According to Al Jazeera, she said, “There will be a third, there will be a fourth, there will be a fifth.”
The other prizes of the night included the Grand Prix, which was shared between Iranian director Asghar Farhadi’s film A Hero and director Juho Kuosmanen’s Compartment No 6.
Director Leos Carax won the award for Best Director for his musical Annette.
Caleb Landry Jones won Best Actor for his performance in Nitram while Norwegian actress Renate Reinsve won Best Actress for Worst Person in the World.