Michael Moore enjoys a 20-minute standing ovation in honor of Fahrenheit 9/11 in 2004. Photo: Alami
What could motivate 2,300 people to stand on their feet and applaud for 113 minutes? Answer: There will be 14 films on this year's Cannes Film Festival whose ovations have been counted and their lengths have been reported in the industry press.
Please note that at the 2024 festival the audience did not applaud as much. Considering there are about 70 features in the official collection and about 40 more in the sidebars, the true total is likely to be somewhere around nine hours. This is just a sampling of the most notable premieres – films such as Demi Moore's terrifying body horror “The Substance” (11 minutes), Donald Trump biopic “The Apprentice” (seven) and “Mad Max” prequel “Furiosa” (six) .
In normal life, the idea of applauding something for 11 minutes, no matter how exciting it is, might seem a little crazy. But compared to its quieter rivals Venice and Berlin, Cannes has never been a particularly lively place. The standing ovation here is unique and extremely long, and its duration often makes news. (Michael Moore was given 20 minutes for Fahrenheit 9/11 in 2004, but the record holder remains Guillermo del Toro's Labyrinth of the Factory, which was applauded for a wrist-spraining 22 minutes in 2006.) So why is this happening—and why here? ?
“There is a reverence for the director here that is not found at any other festival,” says a buyer for an international distributor who has been attending Cannes for 15 years. “Some of the worst films I have ever seen received standing ovations at Cannes. But the French like the idea of the director as an author, so treat them more highly than, say, Venice.”
'FURIOSA' received a 7-minute standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival. pic.twitter.com/kkjJf8vA67
—cinematic. (@TheCinesthetic) May 15, 2024
Another important difference is the glamor of the Cannes brand itself. “Unlike other major festivals, Cannes is a global news event,” explains the veteran publicist, who has been presenting films at the festival for more than 30 years. “The way films are perceived here becomes part of their history.”
Take Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette, which the French famously booed in 2006. “Those boos were the story of the first day, which haunted her throughout this life,” says the publicist.
That’s why the circulation of times of ovations has now become routine. “Film teams are interested in putting a positive spin on things as quickly as possible. And applause is the very first vaguely tangible sign of how everything went.”
For applause as a sneaky PR strategy, take the 15 minutes that met Nicole Kidman and the sweaty Florida noir The Paperboy in 2012. .
“I happen to know that this was only supported by the film crew,” the buyer admits. “The reaction at the press screening that morning was so toxic that they were determined to change history, so a long standing ovation was the easiest way to do it.” And so, he remains in fifth place in Wikipedia's all-time ranking.
A record 22-minute ovation for Fan's Labyrinth in 2006 Photo: AP
Ovations do not happen at every screening. Typically, official selection is limited to evening galas held at the Grand Théâtre Lumiere, with press screenings (where booing and walkouts occur) held in the nearby Salle Debussy.
About an eighth of Lumiere's 2,300-person audience typically consists of the film's crew and members of the various distribution companies who have bought the rights to their territories, so they all have a stake in seeing the film perform well. And the rest of us, who dressed up for the evening and may have had to beg and hunt for a ticket, may also be inclined to treat the experience as something deeper than a two-for-one night at the local multiplex back home. .< /p>
“The galas are always infinitely more lavish,” the late director Alan Parker, whose “Bugsy Malone” was in competition at Cannes in 1976, told journalist Carey Beauchamp.
“It definitely influences you if people watching your film. It's easy to make the mistake of thinking that your “reception” at Cannes is the show. You may be sabotaged at screenings you don't attend. No wonder everyone is surprised when they don’t win a prize.”
Festival jury members attend galas, but tend to run away during the credits so as not to be influenced by what comes next. . And even directors who have to stand and film while the camera broadcasts their emotions directly onto the cinema screen tend to treat it as a ritual rather than a more concrete manifestation of the film's success.
Kevin Costner receives a nine-minute standing ovation for Horizon: An American Saga in 2024. Photo: Alamy
“Sometimes I've had to tell someone that the reviews for their movie were, shall we say, mixed,” says Kevin Costner. publicist, “and they'll say, 'But we had such a fantastic reaction tonight.' And you have to say, “Yeah, mate, but it was an official screening.” /p>
So what do they actually do? “They create one of the things Cannes does best: moments of drama,” the publicist continues. “Nobody wants to say, 'Oh, the movie was well received.' They prefer viral footage of famous people looking like they're about to cry.”
This is exactly what was received on the site. This year's premiere of Kevin Costner's “Horizon: An American Saga” (Ovation length: nine minutes): The dewy glint visible in Costner's own eyes was a reason for audiences to continue applauding in the hope that they would grow into a drop.
Others act more coolly, albeit with equally viral results. At the end of a five-minute standing ovation for Leos Carax's Annetta in 2021, star Adam Driver casually lit a cigarette, and during the seven-minute Once Upon a Time in Hollywood in 2019, director Quentin Tarantino briefly danced the Batouzi.
For younger and older people For less experienced directors this may be difficult. “One of our directors recently said that she mistook the short burst of applause at the end of the credits for her famous Cannes ovation,” recalls a buyer, “and it ended after 30 seconds.
“She spent the last five minutes of the movie thinking it was a failure. Then the lights came on, the cameraman came in, and everyone rose to their feet. She later said that she didn't even realize how much she was interested in that moment.”
Has a film ever failed to receive a standing ovation at Cannes? “Hmm,” the publicist muses. “The only thing I remember is The Kid from Macon by Peter Greenaway, and that was back in 1993. The only sound I associated with this film was the regular “clack-clack-clack” of empty seats returning to an upright position. »
And your weakest recent entry? Southland Tales in 2006. In reality it was just scattered, obedient applause. People were mostly on their feet, so they were able to get out.”
“But that won’t happen now,” the buyer adds. “No matter how disappointed they were, the crew continued to applaud until they were convinced that a PR disaster that could have been prevented had been averted.”
Still, producers and financiers are definitely loving this moment – this moment of glory at the world's biggest film festival, where they can bask in the adulation of their peers?
“You think so, don't you?” says the buyer. “But as soon as they step outside, you can be sure they're all checking their phones to read reviews.”
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