20 powerful films that received the Palme d'Or in the 21st century, half of which you will hear about for the first time (20 photos + 1 video)

The Cannes Film Festival and its main award, the Palme d'Or, are extremely well-known brands in the world of cinema, but unlike Oscar winners, mass audiences rarely get to see the winning films at Cannes. It just so happens that the main winners there are rarely films that will appeal to any audience.





Judge for yourself, from 1939 to 2000, not many films can be distinguished among the winners as audience hits: “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg” (1964), “Taxi Driver” (1976), “Apocalypse Now” (1979) and “Pulp Fiction” ( 1994). Residents of Eastern Europe are also familiar with the film “The Cranes Are Flying,” which won in 1958.

Another thing here is that most often the winners are social dramas, watching which can take a toll on your emotional state and plunge you into hopeless darkness. And not all movie lovers like this.

Now we will list all the Palme d'Or winners in the 21st century, and you can count how many films you have watched and how many you have heard about. In this list, we will only mention feature films that have received awards. In 2004, the American documentary “Fahrenheit 9/11” won at Cannes. Is this the second time this has happened in the history of the festival? Also, due to the pandemic, it was not held in 2020. So don't be surprised that 2004 and 2020 are missing.

So, here are the winners of the most prestigious film awards, half of which you will hear about for the first time. The magic of the Cannes Film Festival!

2001 - “Son’s Room” (Italy)



Director: Nanni Moretti.

What: about the loss of a child.

IMDb: 7.3

We will specify countries in parentheses when the film is not made in English.

2002 - “The Pianist”





Director: Roman Polanski.

What it's аbout: about a Polish musician who ended up in a Nazi concentration camp.

IMDb: 8.5

2003 - “Elephant”



Director: Gus Van Sant.

What: about jokes at school.

IMDb: 7.1

2005 - “Child” (Belgium)



Directors: Dardenne Brothers.

What it's аbout: about a young couple with a child, a difficult financial situation and terrible life choices.

IMDb: 7.4

2006 - “The Wind That Shakes the Heather”



Director: Ken Loach.

What: About the Irish War of Independence in the early 1920s.

IMDb: 7.5

2007 - “4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days” (Romania)



Director: Cristian Mungiu.

What: about abortion.

IMDb: 7.9

2008 - Class (France)



Director: Laurent Cantet.

What it's аbout: teaching in a disadvantaged area of Paris.

IMDb: 7.5

2009 - “White Ribbon” (Germany)



Director: Michael Haneke.

What: About a mysterious accident in a German village on the eve of the First World War.

IMDb: 7.8

2010 - “Uncle Boonmee, who remembers his past lives” (Thailand)



Director: Apichatpong Weerasethakul.

What: about the last days of man and some mystical events.

IMDb: 6.7

2011 - “Tree of Life”



Director: Terrence Malick.

What: about the memories of an adult about his childhood and the different approaches of his parents to his upbringing.

IMDb: 6.8

2012 - “Love” (France)



Director: Michael Haneke.

What: about an elderly couple and their happy life, which is coming to an end.

IMDb: 7.9

2013 - “The Life of Adele” (France)



Director: Abdellatif Kechiche.

What: About a teenage girl who encounters her first love in her life.

IMDb: 7.7

2014 - “Winter Hibernation” (Türkiye)



Director: Nuri Bilge Ceylan.

What it's аbout: about relatives who don't get along and are stuck in a hotel due to snowfall.

IMDb: 8.0

2015 - Dipan (France)



Director: Jacques Audiard.

What: about emigrants - a man and woman with a child who pose as a family in order to gain asylum in France.

IMDb: 7.2

2016 - “I, Daniel Blake”



Director: Ken Loach.

What: about a hard worker who has lost the opportunity to earn his own living and is forced to fight an automated bureaucracy for the right to receive social assistance.

IMDb: 7.8

2017 - “Square” (Sweden)



Director: Ruben Östlund.

What it's аbout: about the attempts of a rich and successful man to return stolen things in a poor area of Stockholm.

IMDb: 7.2

2018 - “Shoplifters” (Japan)



Director: Hirokazu Kore-eda.

What it's аbout: about a poor but happy family whose members resort to theft and once even steal a little girl.

IMDb: 7.9

2019 - “Parasite” (South Korea)



Director: Bong Joon-ho.

What it's аbout: about the interaction of two South Korean families with different social statuses.

IMDb: 8.5

2021 - Titan (France)



Director: Julia Ducournau.

What it's аbout: about the crazy and shocking adventures of a girl named Alexia.

IMDb: 6.6

2022 - “Triangle of Sadness” (Sweden)

Director: Ruben Östlund.

What it's аbout: The passengers of a luxury yacht (models, billionaires and cleaning ladies) find themselves stranded on a desert island.

The film does not yet have audience ratings, since it will only be released in the fall. But Woody Harrelson is on the list of actors!

So! How many winning films of the main competition of the Cannes Film Festival have you watched in the 21st century?