Anora: The Palme d'Or Powerhouse
Let’s start with the big one. When a film wins the Palme d’Or, the festival's highest honor, you pay attention. Sean Baker, the director behind scrappy, humanist gems like *The Florida Project* and *Red Rocket*, finally took home the top prize for *Anora*. The film is described as a darkly comedic thriller about a Brooklyn exotic dancer who marries the son of a Russian oligarch, only to have his parents descend on her to annul the marriage. Critics at Cannes raved about its chaotic energy, sharp writing, and a star-making lead performance from Mikey Madison. Baker has been an awards-season fixture in the past, and with a Palme d’Or in hand, Neon (the distributor behind *Parasite*) will surely mount a major campaign for Best Picture, Best Director,
Best Actress for Madison, and Best Original Screenplay.
The Substance: The Body-Horror Comeback
Every year, Cannes has one film that shocks, divides, and gets everyone talking. This year, it was Coralie Fargeat’s *The Substance*. Starring Demi Moore in what is being hailed as a monumental comeback performance, this body-horror satire is about an aging celebrity who uses a black-market serum that creates a younger, “better” version of herself (played by Margaret Qualley). Things, as you might imagine, go horrifically wrong. The film earned a staggering 13-minute standing ovation and won the festival’s Best Screenplay award. While horror often struggles at the Oscars, a high-concept, critically adored film with a major star’s comeback narrative is a potent combination. Expect big pushes for Moore in the Best Actress race and Fargeat for Best Original Screenplay.
Emilia Pérez: The Genre-Bending Musical
A musical about a Mexican drug lord who undergoes gender-affirming surgery to escape his past and live as the woman he's always wanted to be? Only from the mind of master director Jacques Audiard (*A Prophet*, *Dheepan*). *Emilia Pérez* was the feel-good sensation of the festival, a wildly original and moving crime-comedy-musical that captivated audiences. The film took home the Jury Prize and, in an unusual move, a collective Best Actress award for its trio of stars: Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez, and Karla Sofía Gascón, a trans actress who plays the titular role. This is exactly the kind of bold, international film that Academy voters have been embracing more and more. It will be a major contender for Best International Feature Film and could easily cross over into categories like Best Original Song, Screenplay, and the performance categories.
Kinds of Kindness: The Actor's Showcase
After the massive success of *Poor Things*, director Yorgos Lanthimos and star Emma Stone re-teamed for this triptych of surreal, unsettling fables. But the actor who walked away with the hardware was Jesse Plemons, who won the Best Actor prize for his work across the film's three distinct parts. Plemons has been one of Hollywood's most reliable and compelling character actors for years—an “actor’s actor” who always delivers. Winning a major award at Cannes for a leading role finally gives him the spotlight and a powerful narrative for Oscar season. While the film itself may be too strange for some Academy voters, Plemons's performance is undeniable. His win at Cannes makes him an immediate front-runner in the Best Actor conversation.
Megalopolis: The Legendary Wild Card
No film arrived at Cannes with more baggage and higher stakes than Francis Ford Coppola’s *Megalopolis*, a sprawling, self-funded epic 40 years in the making. The reception was, to put it mildly, deeply divided. Some critics called it a disastrous, incoherent folly; others hailed it as a work of lunatic genius. The film, a sci-fi allegory about the fall of Rome set in a futuristic New York, stars Adam Driver as a visionary architect. Regardless of whether you think it’s a masterpiece or a mess, its sheer ambition and the legendary status of its director make it impossible to ignore. It's the ultimate wild card. It could get completely shut out of awards season, or its audacity could inspire a passionate campaign that lands it nominations for its technical achievements, if not Best Picture itself.
