FRENCH FANCIES

Our guide to the best of this year's CANNES FILM FESTIVAL....

- JAMES MOTTRAM

ANORA

A popular if slightly surprising choice, Sean Baker’s raucous comedy drama was awarded the Palme d’Or by the Greta Gerwigled jury. Mikey Madison (Scream, Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood) offers up a career-making turn as Anora, a spiky Brooklyn lap dancer who looks to have hit the motherlode when she marries one of her clients, the wayward son of a Russian billionaire (Mark Eydelshteyn).

But this fairy tale soon turns nightmarish when his furious parents send their minions to force her into an annulment. Baker (Tangerine, The Florida Project, Red Rocket) deftly pivots from physical comedy, including one insane fight scene, to dramatic pathos, as he explores wealth, class, entitlement and self-preservation.

EMILIA PÉREZ

One of the favourites for the Palme, Jacques Audiard’s Mexican-set musical took home the Jury prize and a joint Best Actress award for the cast - Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez, Adriana Paz and Karla Sofía Gascón, who plays the title role. The jury got it absolutely right. The story of a cartel boss who undergoes gender-reassignment surgery, emerging as Emilia Pérez, it’s a socially conscious showstopper that surprises at every turn. Memorable songs penned by French siren Camille mix with sharply choreographed routines from Damien Jalet, including a jaw-dropping Busby Berkeleystyle routine at a Swiss clinic.

THE APPRENTICE