Every year at Cannes, Screen International asks critics from around the world to rate each feature in competition, using a scale that runs from four stars (‘excellent’), through three, two and one (‘good’, ‘average’ and ‘poor’) to zero (‘bad’). An average mark is arrived at for each film and the results published in Screen’s daily print edition on the Croisette.
At the end of Cannes, every film’s average is combined to arrive at a single score for that year’s competition. These annual marks, which usually range from 2.0 to 2.5, act as a rough comparision guide between festivals.
During the past decade, 2001 - the year of The Son’s Room, Moulin Rouge, Shrek and The Man Who Wasn’t There - enjoyed the highest annual average; 2003, when critics complained about The Brown Bunny and Les Cotelettes, endured the lowest.
As the results below show, the Screen Jury has rarely agreed with their festival counterparts as to the year’s best feature.
Click here for Cannes jury grid 2007
2006
Palme D’Or winner: The Wind That Shakes The Barley (2.4)
Click here for the Cannes Film Festival results for 2006
Screen Jury winner: Volver (3.4, above)
Screen average for 2006: 2.2
Other 3.0-plus films: none
Films that averaged 1.0 or less: Colossal Youth (0.9)
Screen said at the time: ‘The competition line-up may have lacked a little lustre but ultimately proved a solid, respectable roll-call of international achievement, if lacking the wow factor In the end it seemed to have something for everyone There were few offensive duds, just mild disappointments’
Click here for Screen’s Jury grid for 2006
2005
Palme D’Or winner: The Child (3.2)
Click here for the Cannes Film Festival results for 2005
Screen Jury winner: Hidden (3.3, above)
Screen average for 2005: 2.2
Other 3.0-plus films: Broken Flowers (3.2), Three Times (3.1)
Films that averaged 1.0 or less: none
Screen said at the time: ‘Initially criticised for placing his faith in the tried and tested old guard of Cannes favourites, Thierry Fremaux’s decision looked wiser as time went by Top heavy with films exploring the divide between the haves and have-nots and the climate of fear and loathing that defines the modern world, the competition line-up could have benefited from something with warmth and humanity ‘
Click here for Screen’s Jury grid for 2005
2004
Palme D’Or winner: Fahrenheit 9/11 (2.7)
Click here for the Cannes Film Festival results for 2004
Screen Jury winner: 2046 (3.3, above)
Screen average for 2004: 2.1
Other 3.0-plus films: Look At Me (3.0)
Films that averaged 1.0 or less: none
Screen said at the time: ‘Thierry Fremaux promised that Cannes 2004 would be a festival of confirmations and discoveries It was touch and go at times but the competition titles just about delivered on his promise Willing to take a few more chances and loosen the stays of its restrictive old school programming, a slightly revitalised Cannes felt as if it was striving to reclaim a place at the centre of that world.’
Click here for Screen’s Jury grid for 2004
2003
Palme D’Or winner: Elephant (2.1)
Click here for the Cannes Film Festival results for 2003
Screen Jury winner: Dogville (3.1, above)
Screen average for 2003: 2.0
Other 3.0-plus films: Distant (3.0)
Films that averaged 1.0 or less: Brown Bunny (0.5), Les Cotelettes (0.3)
Screen said at the time: ‘As the daily groan of complaints and divided belief became a chorus, it was all too easy to forget that major works were being unveiled Part of the problem was for this year’s festival was last year’s festival. The 2002 edition was one of the best ever an impossible act to follow, it became both a vivid memory and a hefty milestone ‘
Click here for Screen’s Jury grid for 2003
2002
Palme D’Or winner: The Pianist (2.5)
Click here for the Cannes Film Festival results for 2002
Screen Jury winner: The Man Without A Past (3.3, above)
Screen average for 2002: 2.3
Other 3.0-plus films: About Schmidt, The Son, All Or Nothing (each 3.0)
Films that averaged 1.0 or less: Irreversible (1.0)
Screen said at the time: ‘Critics from around the world were united on two things about this year’s festival competition: the first, the line-up was one of the strongest in recent years, and second, The Pianist was a highly unexpected and not necessarily deserved Palme D’Or ‘
Click here for Screen’s Cannes Jury grid for 2002
2001
Palme D’Or winner: The Son’s Room (3.3)
Click here for the Cannes Film Festival results for 2001
Screen Jury winner: The Son’s Room (3.3, above)
Screen average for 2001: 2.4
Other 3.0-plus films: none
Films that averaged 1.0 or less: none
Screen said at the time: ‘While this year’s festival lacked many big or rousing moments, quite a few cinematic gems sparkled along the way, enough to give it solid stature What was missing this year was a truly controversial movie, a cause celebre The other frustrating trend was the lack of genuine discoveries ‘
Click here for Screen’s Cannes Jury grid for 2001
2000
Palme D’Or winner: Dancer In The Dark (2.5)
Click here for the Cannes Film Festival results for 2000
Screen Jury winner: In The Mood For Love (3.2, above)
Screen average for 2000: 2.3
Other 3.0-plus films: none
Films that averaged 1.0 or less: Estorvo (0.7)
Screen said at the time: ‘Tipped as the favourite before the festival even began, Lars Von Trier’s Dancer In the Dark may have sharply divided critics and audiences but it was the one film that everyone felt they must see for themselves . Top heavy with daunting running times, ponderous costume dramas and old guard disappointments, the festival’s emphasis on art rather than commerce still bore fruit ‘
Click here for Screen’s Cannes Jury grid for 2000
1999
Palme D’Or winner: Rosetta (2.9)
Click here for the Cannes Film Festival results for 1999
Screen Jury winner: The Straight Story (3.4, above)
Screen average for 1999: 2.2
Other 3.0-plus films: Felicia’s Journey (3.3), All About My Mother (3.2)
Films that averaged 1.0 or less: Eight And A Half Women (1.0)
Screen said at the time: ‘The 52nd Festival ended as it began - with bewilderment. If Cannes’ selector Gilles Jacob’s choice of The Barber Of Siberia as the opening night raised eyebrows, the prize-winners selected by David Cronenberg’s jury on Sunday night were met with unanimous bafflement ‘
Click here for Screen’s Cannes Jury grid for 1999
1998
Palme D’Or winner: Eternity And A Day (2.8)
Click here for the Cannes Film Festival results for 1998
Screen Jury winner: My Name Is Joe (3.3, above)
Screen average for 1998: 2.2
Other 3.0-plus films: none
Films that averaged 1.0 or less: Foolish Heart (0.8)
Screen said at the time: ‘Eternity And A Day: there were those at Cannes, both among the browbeaten festival-watchers and foot-sore market-peddlers, who saw in Theo Angelopoulos’ Palme D’Or-winning film a perfect one-line description for this year’s festivities In seeking to divide the world between artistic pretension and brazen commercialism, Cannes seemed to overlook a growing truth the festival should be as much one of cinema as a showcase for its more demanding talents
Click here for Screen’s Jury grid for 1998
1997
Palme D’Or winners (joint): Taste Of Cherry (3.5), The Eel (2.1)
Click here for the Cannes Film Festival results for 1997
Screen Jury winner: Taste Of Cherry (3.5, above)
Screen average for 1997: 2.2
Other 3.0-plus films: The Sweet Hereafter (3.3)
Films that averaged 1.0 or less: The Brave (1.0), Assassins (0.8)
Screen said at the time: ‘The glamour surrounding the 50th Cannes was subdued and the festival had no unanimously acclaimed films. But then nothing could have lived up to the event’s hype . In the absence of a standout favourite, the wealth was inevitably spread among a few admired, but not loved films.’
No comments yet