It was indeed difficult to compete with a Coppola who returns to Cannes to defend his title after more than ten years without filming, like last year. Not even the annual Dupieux to get under the retinas, nor a kamoulox pitch à la Emilia Pérez announced… None of that in the 2025 selection! Nada. Niet.
Worse: no film to wake up the Croisette with a good camera shot, as we remember The Substance did in 2024. Ducournau's Alpha, which we expected like the Messiah in this role, finally deflated like a balloon and this fortnight of cinema was, in the end, a little dull.
Cannes: A very serious 2025 awards list££££
No, this year, it was serious, and the awards list reflects this. The power outage across the region on Saturday, May 24, will certainly be remembered more than the awards ceremony that same day. However, the Palme d'Or will be remembered: an undeniable choice by the jury chaired by actress Juliette Binoche, as Jafar Panahi's film, shot in secret - as we recall -, stood out from the crowd.
As its title suggests, A Simple Accident tells the story of how a banal accident will lead to a series of events that will turn the lives of former political prisoners upside down. With its incredible cast and its tone oscillating between drama and comedy, the film is both a fine lesson in directing and offers a relentless script. A very intelligent critique of the Islamic Republic, which imprisoned its director several times. A political film, certainly, but not only that. A luminous film, above all.
Paradoxically, A Simple Accident is probably one of the most accessible films in this selection, very arty and very cinephile (a cutting-edge trend), like Resurrection (Bi Gan), The Mastermind (Kelly Reichardt), or obviously Nouvelle Vague (Richard Linklater). Not all very mainstream, it must be said. Let's hope that this Palme d'Or gives A Simple Accident the more than deserved visibility it deserves and that the public will go and discover in theaters on September 10th the film by an Iranian filmmaker. The Palme d'Or is also used for that...
Cannes Film Festival 2025 Awards• Special Prize: Resurrection, by Bi Gan• Best Actor Award: Wagner Moura, in The Secret Agent• Best Screenplay Award: Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, for Young Mothers• Jury Prize: Sirât, by Oliver Laxe, and Sound of Falling, by Mascha Schilinski• Best Director Award: Kleber Mendonça Filho, for The Secret Agent• Best Actress Award: Nadia Melliti, in The Little Last One• Grand Prize: Sentimental Value, by Joachim Trier• Palme d'Or: A Simple Accident, by Jafar Panahi
