The 79th Cannes Film Festival drew to a close on Saturday evening with a ceremony at the Grand Théâtre Lumière, where an international jury led by South Korean auteur Park Chan-wook began distributing honours in a notably unpredictable race. Early prizes set a collaborative and elegiac tone: the best actor award was shared equally between Emmanuel Macchia and Valentin Campagne for their performances in Lukas Dhont’s “Coward”, while an honorary Palme d’Or was conferred on Barbra Streisand, who appeared via video message owing to an injury. The Palme itself will be presented by Tilda Swinton, underscoring the ceremonial weight of the evening.

The mood along the Croisette throughout the fortnight was one of diminished expectation. Hollywood largely stayed away, and many competition entries failed to ignite the critical fervour that usually attends Cannes. Viewed from London, this year’s edition felt notably subdued, lacking the clear masterpiece that often emerges. French critics, however, found some works to champion: Le Figaro’s reviewers, in an unofficial tally, awarded their own Palme to James Gray’s “Paper Tiger”, an immersive 1980s Queens crime drama, while also singling out Pawel Pawlikowski’s latest and a clutch of Asian titles as likely juror favourites.

The political dimension, always latent at Cannes, was inescapable. Analysts in Rome noted that the jury — which included Demi Moore, Ruth Negga, Chloé Zhao and Stellan Skarsgård — could send a powerful signal by honouring Russian exile Andreï Zviaguintsev for his anti‑war opus “Minotaure”, widely hailed by critics. The film’s urgency, paired with the festival’s history of geopolitical engagement, made it a plausible dark horse. At the same time, a daring queer epic, “La Bola negra”, generated buzz as a potential statement winner, though its divisiveness left it on the edge of consensus.

As the ceremony progressed, the shape of the Palme d’Or decision remained opaque. With 22 films in competition and no runaway favourite — a consequence of what several European correspondents described as a festival of middling currents — the jury’s verdict would be watched as much for what it reveals about the cinema’s mood as for the film it elevates. Whether the Palme goes to a consensus choice or a provocative outlier, its ripple effects on global distribution and auteur reputations will be immediate, as the Croisette’s arc lights fade and the industry’s attention shifts to the awards‑season narrative taking hold.