"Amour", by Austrian director Michael Hanake, won the Palme d'Or at the 65th Cannes Film Festival on Sunday night. It is Mr. Hanake's second Palme in four years, after he won in 2009 from the black-and-white drama "The White Ribbon".
Set almost entirely in an apartment, "Amour" tells the story of an aging French couple who faces the ultimate test of their long love when the wife falls ill with a terminal disease. The film was a critical favourite, and it shows a tender side of Mr. Hanake, a director known for his flair for abrupt shock and wrenching twists.
The jury headed by Italian filmmaker Nanni Moretti gave the runners-up prize, the Grand Prix, to Italian film "Reality" by Matteo Garrone. The film tells the story of a man who's obsessed with earning a place in the reality TV show "Big Brother". Mr Garrone also won the same prize in 2008 from the mafia saga "Gomorra".
The Best Actor prize went to Mads Mikkelsen from the Danish film "The Hunt". Mr. Mikkelsen, who once played a Bond villain, portrays a family man accused of child molesting. He was a frontrunner of the prize, though a lot of critics also rooted for the shape-shifting performance of Denis Lavant in "Holy Motors", a festival sensation that surprisingly won nothing on Sunday.
Mexican director Carlos Reygadas surged past other favourites to win Best Director from his enigmatic "Post Tenebras Lux" -- or "after darkness, light" -- an oblique, unclassifiable tale of a rich family and their relationship with poor workers on the estate. The film, beautiful and puzzling, features a fluorescent red devil carrying a toolbox and a scene of auto-decapitation.
The two actresses from the Romanian film "Beyond the Hills" share the Best Actress trophy: one of them plays a nun, the other plays her friend who visits the monastery and sets off a chain of events that lead to an exorcism. Cristian Mungiu, the film's writer/director, won for Best Screenplay.
Another surprise was "The Angels' Share" by British veteran Ken Loach: the comedy about a group of whisky bandits won Jury Prize, a kind of special honour.
The Palme d'Or is widely considered the most prestigious cinema prize. The Thai film "Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives" was crowned the winner in 2010.
