'The Child' wins the Palme d'Or in Cannes

Elsewhere Tommy Lee Jones, Michael Haneke, Hanna Laslo and Guillermo Arriaga picked up prizes.

May 23 2005

'The Child' ('L'Enfant') was the big winner at this year's Cannes Film Festival, scooping the coveted Palme d'Or for directors Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne.

The powerful tale of a poverty-stricken thief who takes drastic measures to make ends meet (see Time Out's review here), the film beat off stiff competition from Michael Haneke's 'Hidden' to take the top prize.

And while the victory didn't cause the same sort of stir as last year's winner, 'Fahrenheit 9/11', the siblings nevertheless courted controversy of their own by dedicating the award to French journalist Florence Aubenas and her driver Hussein Hanun al-Saadi, who were kidnapped in Iraq in January.

Elsewhere Jim Jarmusch's 'Broken Flowers' won the Grand Prix Prize, although the film's star Bill Murray didn't win the best actor award as expected; instead Tommy Lee Jones picked up that particular gong.

Indeed it was a good night all round for TLJ, with his 'The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada' also bagging the best screenplay award for Guillermo Arriaga's excellent script.

As for the other prestigious prizes, Haneke won the best director award, Hanna Laslo was named best actress for 'Free Zone', and Wang Xiaoshuai won the jury award for 'Shanghai Dreams'.

Fill list of winners:

Palme d'Or – 'The Child'

Grand Prix – 'Broken Flowers'

Jury Prize – 'Shanghai Dreams'

Best Director – Michael Haneke ('Hidden')

Best Actor – Tommy Lee Jones ('The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada')

Best Actress – Hanna Laslo ('Free Zone')

Best Screenplay – Guillermo Arriaga ('The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada')

And for the rest of Time Out's Cannes coverage, click here

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