French movie wins top prize at Venice festival

French director Audrey Diwan poses with the Golden Lion for Best Film she received for L’Evenement (Happening).

Happening (L’événement), a hard-hitting French drama about illegal abortion in the 1960s, won the Golden Lion award for best film at the Venice festival yesterday. The film, by director Audrey Diwan, wowed viewers on the Lido waterfront with its portrayal of a young woman desperate to arrange a termination, at a time when it could mean a prison term or death, to continue with her studies. Her film arrives just as the abortion debate is raging again after new restrictions in Texas, and with the MeToo movement starting to make its mark in the film industry. “I did this movie with anger, with desire, with my belly, my guts, my heart and my head,” said Diwan, accepting the top prize for her delicately rendered, yet gut-punching drama. The runner-up Grand Jury prize went to Italian director Paolo Sorrentino for The Hand of God, his deeply personal film about losing his parents as a teenager, which also earned the newcomer award for young star Filippo Scotti. In a strong night for women filmmakers, best director went to iconic New Zealand auteur Jane Campion, back on the big screen after a 12-year hiatus, for her emotionally-complex Western The Power of the Dog, starring Benedict Cumberbatch. And the best screenplay award went to Maggie Gyllenhaal for her directorial debut The Lost Daughter, an unflinching look at the difficulties of balancing career and motherhood starring British Oscar-winner Olivia Colman. The awards for the 78th edition of the festival on the Lido waterfront brought the curtain down on a high-quality and star-studded 11-day movie marathon, with critics calling the contest one of the most unpredictable in years. Happening is the second French film to win a major festival since Julia Ducournau’s serial-killer movie Titane scooped the Palme D’Or in Cannes with in July. Among other awards handed out in Venice, Penelope Cruz won the best actress prize for her role as a single mother in Pedro Almodovar’s Parallel Mothers. The best actor prize went to John Arcilla from the Philippines for On The Job: The Missing 8. It was hard to ignore the gender theme across many films. The festival closed with The Last Duel, playing out of competition, a mediaeval jousting drama starring Matt Damon and Ben Affleck that went heavy on its message of historical injustice towards women. “I think any reasonable humane, empathetic, conscionable person would have to be a feminist,” Affleck said. Edgar Wright’s Last Night in Soho, meanwhile, turned the misogyny of Swinging Sixties London into a slasher horror flick. One woman who seems destined to grab the headlines in the coming months is Kristen Stewart, who wowed critics with her turn as Princess Diana in Spencer. However, it was Spanish megastar Cruz who took home the best actress award in Venice for her latest collaboration with veteran auteur Pedro Almodovar. Parallel Mothers is a surprisingly political turn for the flamboyant filmmaker, exploring the trauma of the 1930s Spanish civil war alongside the tale of two mothers sharing a maternity ward. Cruz had a busy festival, also starring alongside Antonio Banderas as egomaniacal filmmakers in Official Competition, which mercilessly ripped into their own profession. The Golden Lion was selected by a jury led by Parasite director Bong Joon-Ho and presented at the last night’s closing ceremony. Success at Venice has become a key launchpad for Academy Award campaigns in recent years. The last four winners – Nomadland, Joker, Roma, and The Shape of Water – have all gone on to Oscar success. The glamour was certainly back this year, with a dazzling Hollywood guest list capped by the appearance of Affleck with his old/new girlfriend Jennifer Lopez to the delight of gossip mags everywhere. Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic precautions – including mandatory masks, vaccine passes and 50% capacity in the cinemas – continued to dull some of the shine at this year’s festival. Timothee Chalamet – in town to promote mega-blockbuster Dune – had to leap up the new Covid-security wall separating the public from the red carpet to give his adoring teen fans a bit of face time. However, with Dune bringing an army of stars to the Lido island – including Zendaya, Oscar Isaac and Javier Bardem – it seemed to confirm that the festival circuit was back on glitzy form.