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James Mottram

The 79th Cannes Film Festival may yet be a watershed moment. Hollywood stayed away – there was not a sniff of a blockbuster to be found – confirming that the studios now see legacy movie marathons like Cannes as irrelevant in the influencer age.
That did not stop film stars such as John Travolta, Rami Malek and Penelope Cruz from attending, and the oxygen usually taken up by studio fare meant more indie films had room to breathe.
Whether there will be a breakout film like last year’s Sentimental Value, though, remains to be seen, with some critics calling this year’s event “Cannes ordinaire”.
Still, there were many outstanding films across the entire selection. Here are 10 of the best.
1. I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning


Clio Barnard, the director of The Selfish Giant, returned with the only British film in Cannes this year, a stirring tale of 30-something friendship that, quite rightly, took the audience award after playing in the Directors’ Fortnight strand.
Rising stars Joe Cole, Anthony Boyle and Daryl McCormack all feature in a Midlands-set story that digs into the dashed hopes and dreams of millennials, as they face social and economic inequalities in an unforgiving environment.
Drawing honest performances from her cast, Barnard looks to have inherited the mantle of the great British socialist filmmaker Ken Loach.
2. Moulin


The French Resistance was the topic du jour.
Out of competition, De Gaulle: Tilting Iron played, the first of a two-parter that spotlighted future French president Charles de Gaulle during the war years. In competition, A Man of His Time saw writer-director Emmanuel Marre, who won best screenplay, tackle his great-grandfather’s time amid France’s collaborationist Vichy regime.
But for this writer, Laszlo Nemes’ Moulin was the stand-out. Nemes’ look at the final days of Resistance hero Jean Moulin, played by Gilles Lellouche, is an immersive period piece. Feeling like an homage to Jean-Pierre Melville’s Army of Shadows (1969), he truly captures the horrors of the era.
3. Gentle Monster


Lea Seydoux delivered two terrific performances in the main competition. In Arthur Harari’s unsettling-if-wayward The Unknown, she bravely took on a bonkers body-swap narrative that went out on a limb.
But it was in Gentle Monster as Lucy, a celebrated pianist whose husband (Laurence Rupp) is arrested after the police discover images of child pornography on his computer, that she really acted her heart out.
Director Marie Kreutzer was undoubtedly seeking catharsis after Florian Teichtmeister, the lead actor from her last film, Corsage, was similarly charged. This grips from the very first frame.
4. The Birthday Party

In a year of genre movies scoring highly in the official competition – not least the epic-length South Korean sci-fi/horror mash-up Hope – Lea Mysius contributed with this drum-tight home invasion thriller.
Hafsia Herzi plays a mother who faces a night of terror when her ex-con ex-lover (a super creepy Benoit Magimel) and his brothers arrive unexpectedly on her birthday.
It may not quite blow the chill wind that Michael Haneke’s Funny Games did, but this pulpy tale was wildly entertaining. At the screening I attended, the usually sedate crowd of critics burst into spontaneous applause at one killer scene.
5. Fjord

Cristian Mungiu became part of an elite group after winning a second Palme d’Or, following his earlier win for 2007’s 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days. While Fjord evidently convinced the jury, led by Korean director Park Chan-wook, it proved one of the most divisive films of the festival.
Set in a remote Norwegian village, the film stars Renate Reinsve and Sebastian Stan as parents who find their Christian values put under the microscope by the authorities when one of their children is discovered with bruises inflicted by Stan’s disciplinarian character.
Unfolding at the crossroads of conservative versus progressive values, Fjord offers up a crafty microcosm of the world today.
6. Minotaur


Nine years on from his last film, Loveless, and following a bout of severe Covid-related ill health, Russian filmmaker Andrey Zvyagintsev’s return had been keenly anticipated. He did not disappoint.
An adaptation of Claude Chabrol’s 1969 film The Unfaithful Wife, Minotaur stars Dmitriy Mazurov as Gleb, a wealthy businessman who discovers his spouse is having an affair.
With his nation’s invasion of Ukraine in the background – billboards, anti-war graffiti, tank convoys and more – Zvyagintsev’s X-ray of the Russian soul proved as brutal as it was compelling. Winning the Grand Prix, the film likely merited the Palme.
7. Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma


Opening the Un Certain Regard section, Jane Schoenbrun’s third feature walked away with the Queer Palme – and plenty of admirers.
Hannah Einbinder (Hacks) stars as a film director looking to reboot a long-running slasher franchise by turning to the now-reclusive original star (Gillian Anderson, in fabulously vampy form).
Featuring some amusing prods at the film industry (the Zoom pitch meeting scene is hilarious), Schoenbrun’s layered script cunningly explores female sexual identity with genuine intelligence.
Following the navel-gazing of Schoenbrun’s earlier I Saw the TV Glow, this feels far more accessible. Cult with a capital “C”.
8. All of a Sudden


It was a banner year for Japanese cinema in Cannes, with three films in competition and numerous titles in the sidebars. But the best of the lot was surely Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s compassionate 196-minute drama, his first shot outside Asia.
Virginie Efira and Tao Okamoto, who shared the best actress prize, are sublime in this deeply humane story about a French woman managing a care home and her evolving relationship with an ailing Japanese stage director.
All of a Sudden’s central scene, as Okamoto’s character delivers an impromptu lecture on the failings of capitalism, is typical of Hamaguchi’s daring approach.
9. Atonement

Debut director Reed Van Dyk gives us a timely reminder of the trauma of war, and the ongoing issues in the Middle East, with this drama of forgiveness inspired by a true story.
Kenneth Branagh stars as Michael Reid, a New York Times reporter covering the 2003 Iraq war.
After a powerful opening third, the film moves into more meditative terrain, set a decade on, when Reid’s reportage brings together a PTSD-suffering soldier (Boyd Holbrook) and a family (including the great Palestinian actress Hiam Abbass) from Baghdad whose lives were shattered by a fatal firefight.
10. Fatherland


Critically beloved director Pawel Pawlikowski’s exquisite Fatherland took a share of the best director prize, alongside Spain’s Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, for their ambitious triptych The Black Ball.
Clocking in at a brisk 82 minutes – a blessed relief in a festival full of monster running times – this 1950s-set look at German author Thomas Mann is quite splendid.
As the film traces his journey through post-war Germany with his daughter Erica (the estimable Sandra Hueller), Lukasz Zal’s breathtaking black-and-white cinematography immerses audiences into Mann’s world with real grace.
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Virginie Efira in a still from All of a Sudden – one of the highlights of the Cannes Film Festival – directed by Ryusuke Hamaguchi.

A still from The Birthday Party, directed by Lea Mysius.

Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve play a married couple with five children in the film Fjord, directed by Cristian Mungiu. Photo: courtesy of Goodfellas

A still from Atonement, directed by Reed Van Dyk.

Cannes 2026: The Samurai and the Prisoner movie review – Kiyoshi Kurosawa back on top form

(From left) Yuriko Yoshitaka, Masahiro Motoki and Ryota Miyadate in a still from The Samurai and the Prisoner.

Masahiro Motoki in a still from The Samurai and the Prisoner (category TBC, Japanese). Directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa. Co-starring Masaki Suda and Yuriko Yoshitaka.

Masaki Suda in a still from The Samurai and the Prisoner.

Cannes 2026: Bitter Christmas movie review – Pedro Almodovar’s engrossing meta drama

Barbara Lennie (left) and Victoria Luengo in a still from Bitter Christmas.

Leonardo Sbaraglia in a still from Bitter Christmas, directed by Pedro Almodovar. Barbara Lennie and Aitana Sanchez-Gijon co-star.

Aitana Sanchez-Gijon (left) and Leonardo Sbaraglia in a still from Bitter Christmas.

Cannes 2026: Fjord movie review – Sebastian Stan, Renate Reinsve lead child welfare drama

Renate Reinsve and Sebastian Stan play a married couple with five children in the film Fjord, directed by Cristian Mungiu. Jonathan Ciprian Breazu (far left) and Vanessa Ceban (right) co-star.

Actress Lisa Loven Kongsli, director Cristian Mungiu and actress Renate Reinsve at the screening of Fjord at the Cannes Film Festival on May 18, 2026. Photo: AFP

Reinsve and Sebastian Stan arrive for the screening of Fjord at the Cannes Film Festival. Photo: AFP

Cannes 2026: Hope movie review – The Wailing director Na Hong-jin back with a monster mess

Jung Ho-yeon (front) and Hwang Jung-min in a still from Hope.

Hwang Jung-min as police chief Bum-seok in a still from Hope (Korean, English), directed by Na Hong-jin. Jung Ho-yeon and Zo In-sung co-star. 


Zo In-sung as Sung-ki in a still from Hope.

Jung Ho-yeon as Sung-ae in a still from Hope.

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The 2026 Cannes Film Festival may have lacked its usual blockbusters, but that gave indie films more exposure. Here are 10 of the best


The 2026 Cannes Film Festival may have lacked its usual blockbusters, but that gave indie films more exposure. Here are 10 of the best.


Cannes 2026: 10 of the festival’s best movies, from Fjord to Minotaur and All of a Sudden

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The 2026 Cannes Film Festival may have lacked its usual blockbusters, but that gave indie films more exposure. Here are 10 of the best

1. I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning

The 2026 Cannes Film Festival may have lacked its usual blockbusters, but that gave indie films more exposure. Here are 10 of the best