Moretti wins at Cannes, Hollywood loses out
( 2001-05-21 10:49 ) (7 )

Italian director Nanni Moretti (R) speaks near the Palme d'Or for his film "La Stanza Del Figlio" (The Son's Room) as actress Melanie Griffith (C Rear) and Antonio Banderas (L Rear) look on during the awards ceremony at the 54th International Cannes Film Festival, May 20, 2001. [Reuters] Italian director Nanni Moretti speaks at the 54th International Cannes Film Festival, May 20, 2001. [Reuters]

Italian director Nanni Moretti won the Cannes film festival's coveted Palme d'Or award on Sunday for "The Son's Room", the tragic story of a family torn apart by the death of a child.

It was the first time an Italian movie had taken top honours at Europe's premier film competition since 1978 and Moretti raised both fists in the air in a victory salute as he went on stage to collect his prize.

The other big winner of the night was Austrian director Michael Haneke's controversial film about voyeurism and masochism, "The Piano Teacher", which picked up three prizes, including the best actress award for Isabelle Huppert.

By contrast, the two big Hollywood pictures in competition, "Shrek" and "Moulin Rouge", left empty handed at the end of the 12-day festival.

However, two independent US directors were honoured.

Joel Coen and David Lynch shared the best director's award for their two films -- "The Man Who Wasn't There" and "Mulholland Drive" respectively.

The president of the jury, Norwegian actress and director Liv Ullmann, told the closing ceremony that picking the winners had been tough and her panel had been divided on many issues.

"The Son's Room" received an ovation when it was screened here last week and was voted by newspaper critics as the best of the 23 films in competition, but Moretti never thought of himself as the automatic winner.

"Often there is no causal relationship between what the public likes and what the jury likes, so the fact that people said I was a favourite didn't reassure me in the least," he told reporters.

HUPPERT'S POWERFUL PERFORMANCE

The jury handed out just eight main awards, "The Piano Teacher" being the only film to take more than one prize.

Besides Huppert, her co-star and compatriot Benoit Magimel won the award for best actor, while Haneke himself took the "Grand Prix" award -- runner up to the Palme d'Or.

Huppert delivers a stunning performance as a cold, sexually repressed teacher, while the youthful Magimel plays her brilliant student who decides to seduce her.

"There are films that frighten you. You think they will take everything away from you, but they give you everything," Huppert said as she collected her prize. "I thank Bach, Schubert and Mozart," she added.

While Huppert had been clear favourite to take the best actress honours, US star Jack Nicholson had been widely tipped to win the best actor prize for his brilliant portrayal of a retired detective in Sean Penn's taut thriller "The Pledge".

If it was a disappointing evening for the Americans, the large Asian contingent fared even worse.

The region had five films in competition and after a strong showing at Cannes in recent years, hopes were high that they would triumph once again.

In the event, only one laurel went Asia's way -- a technical award to Du Tuu-Chih for his sound work on two films set in Taiwan, "Millennium Mambo" and "What Time is it There?"

"The Son's Room" was the fourth picture by Moretti to have been nominated for the Palme d'Or in a career spanning some 30 years. The closest the bearded Italian had come to winning in the past was in 1994 when he was chosen as best director for his comedy "Dear Diary".

A moving film about a stable, middle-class family struggling to come to terms with their son's death, "A Son's Room" deals with the subject with subtlety, never succumbing to cheap sentiment. Moretti himself plays the central role of the father.

"I have often been told that this film represents a turning point in my career because it is a more adult, mature character. Maybe I'm not interested in caricatures any more," he told a news conference earlier this week.