French Le Monde Clarisse Fabre and Jacques Mandelbaum go home from this year’s film marathon in Cannes with a feeling of disappointment that this year’s starting field – with a few exceptions – lacked films that really made an impression. These were instead outside the official competition section, according to Le Monde which highlights “Fermer les yeux” by Spanish director Victor Erice and “Euroka” by Argentinian Lisandro Alonso as two of the year’s biggest experiences. Having said that, Le Monde still thinks that French director Justine Triet’s court drama “Anatomie d’une chute” was one of the most innovative films in the competition section.
Los Angeles Times critic Justin Chang believes that the Palme d’Or should have gone to Jonathan Glazer’s “The zone of interest”. The film is based on a novel by Martin Amis and is about a Nazi commander who lives a family life next door to Auschwitz.
Nor had The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw given the Palme d’Or to “Anatomie d’une chute”, which he equally describes as “an excellent film”, “deeply intelligent” and “adult”. The British critic also highlights Jonthan Glazer’s film – but also Aki Kaurismaki’s “Fallen leaves” and Wim Wenders’ “Pefect days” – as his favourites.
Overall, the competing films at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival were “outstanding,” according to Bradshaw, who is going home with a very different feeling from Le Monde. A “vintage” year, he concludes.