Every Cannes Palme d'Or Winner Since 1990, Ranked

1990 winner

David Lynch's only Cannes win came, ironically, for one of his few films without great reviews. A cult classic nevertheless, the twisted and violent road trip dramedy Wild at Heart arrived on the Croisette in 1990 just over a month after the debut of his TV phenomenon Twin Peaks while Lynch was at peak fame, and edged out films by the likes of Zhang Yimou, Ken Loach, Jean-Luc Godard, and Clint Eastwood (though it wasn't a memorably notable competition slate). Lynch would later have three additional films screen in competition at Cannes, but not even Mulholland Drive could pull off a Palme d'Or win.

"The movie's initial intensity is so great, it consumes itself. By the time we reach the final scene, which is clearly supposed to exude glorious rapture between offbeat lovers Nicolas Cage and Laura Dern, it has all the warming effect of cold ash." —Desson Thomson, The Washington Post

2022 winner

Concluding a trilogy of films "about being male in our times," in the words of Swedish director Ruben í–stlund, Triangle of Sadness won the Palme d'Or at the 75th Cannes Film Festival, repeating the achievement of its predecessor, 2017's The Square, despite a more muted reception from critics. (The first film in the set, 2014's Force Majeure, received outstanding reviews and screened at Cannes in the Un Certain Regard category rather than the main competition, though it, too, was a winner.)

Triangle offers a three-part satire of the uber-rich that introduces viewers to a fashion model couple, follows them onto a mega-yacht (where Woody Harrelson plays the Marx-spouting captain) and then to an island where they are shipwrecked with a Russian oligarch, a British arms dealer and the crew. Some critics felt the satire too blunt and obvious, but others were on board.

"Triangle of Sadness needn't be a fair film, nor one that readily delivers the simple righteousness of have-nots triumphing over have-lots. A more carefully shaped argument would have been appreciated, though. And one that didn't dissolve so quickly into a juvenile snicker." —Richard Lawson, Vanity Fair

2000 winner

Danish director Lars von Trier's only Palme d'Or win in nine tries came for his hugely divisive (aren't they all?) 2000 musical drama starring Bjí¶rk as a single mother who is going blind. The singer also collected a best actress award at the festival, but she hasn't acted again since (though she is scheduled to appear in the 2022 film The Northman from The Lighthouse director Robert Eggers). Plenty of critics hated von Trier's stylistic decisions and pretentiousness (as well as the film's oppressively depressing subject matter), but many more found it moving and thrilling, at least in parts. And the Luc Besson-led Cannes jury obviously fell into the latter category, giving Dancer the festival's top honor over other better-reviewed contenders like In the Mood for Love, Yi Yi, and even another quasi-musical, O Brother Where Art Thou.

"Both stupefyingly bad and utterly overpowering; it can elicit, sometimes within a single scene, a gasp of rapture and a spasm of revulsion." —Dana Stevens, The New York Times

2004 winner

One of only three documentaries to screen in competition at Cannes in 50 years—and the first nonfiction film to win the festival's highest honor since 1956's The Silent World —Michael Moore's examination of the (second) Bush administration's actions following the 9/11 attacks up to and including the invasion of Iraq impressed not only festival attendees but also the Quentin Tarantino-led jury. Admittedly, it was a relatively lackluster competition slate—even Shrek 2 screened in competition that year—but the jury nevertheless selected Moore's film over better-reviewed titles like Hirokazu Koreeda's Nobody Knows, Wong Kar-wai's 2046, Walter Salles' The Motorcycle Diaries, Park Chan-wook's Oldboy, Olivier Assayas' Clean, and, well, Shrek 2.

"More often than not, Moore goes for the guffaw, and as enjoyable as that can be, it falls short of producing the kind of devastating, in-depth analysis that might really challenge the hearts and minds of ALL audiences, left and right. At the very least, this approach undercuts the effectiveness of Moore's own case." —Peter Rainer, New York Magazine

1991 winner

The Coen brothers have debuted eight films in competition at Cannes. But only their fourth feature overall, the dark period comedy/thriller Barton Fink, was able to capture the Palme d'Or. Fink is set in early 1940s Hollywood where a young and successful playwright (John Turturro) attempts to transition into screenwriting only to run into an epic case of writer's block and a gleefully demonic neighbor played by John Goodman in one of his most memorable performances. With additional trophies going to Turturro and to Joel Coen (for his directing) despite reported divisions in the Roman Polanski-led jury, Fink was the final film to win three awards at Cannes; its success caused festival organizers to enact a limit of two awards per film for subsequent years. Many critics praised the film, but some dismissed it as empty at its core.

"Very competently mounted and acted (there are also juicy parts for Judy Davis, Tony Shalhoub, and Jon Polito), this is basically a midnight-movie gross-out in Sunday-afternoon art-house clothing--an intriguing novelty that revels in effect while oozing with cryptic signifiers." —Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader

2003 winner

Set in Portland but based (loosely) on Columbine, Gus Van Sant's school shooting drama was the Good Will Hunting director's first film to screen in competition at Cannes—and his first win. Some critics found the film exploitative and distant, but many liked it—and that was more than could be said for many of the Cannes entries that year, when yellow Metascores were common outside of a few highlights like Clint Eastwood's Mystic River.

"There's much to argue with, but this unconventional, oddly beautiful film resonates in unexpected ways." —David Ansen, Newsweek

2017 winner

Acclaimed Swedish director Ruben í–stlund followed his brilliant 2014 film Force Majeure with another dark comedy, this one following a museum curator (Claes Bang) suffering an existential crisis at work and at home. It was his first film to play in competition at Cannes, and it beat out better-reviewed entries such as Loveless, 120 Beats Per Minute, You Were Never Really Here, and Good Time to take the Palme d'Or.

"In all its flawed brilliance, The Square remains an original, visceral, uncomfortable and essential viewing experience." —Lee Marshall, Screen Daily

2001 winner

The first Italian film to take home the Palme d'Or since 1978, Nanni Moretti's The Son's Room finds a psychoanalyst (played by the director himself) and his wife dealing with the sudden accidental death of their teenage son. Some critics found the result overly sentimental, but more were moved by the drama. Still, there were a handful of better-reviewed films screening in competition in 2001, including future Oscar winner No Man's Land, Michael Haneke's The Piano Teacher and David Lynch's Mulholland Drive.

"A deceivingly simple film, one that grows in power in retrospect, as the cumulative impact of so many quiet moments makes itself felt." —Ann Hornaday, The Washington Post

2021 winner

The winner of the first Cannes event in two years (following the pandemic-related cancellation of the 2020 festival) was far from the best-reviewed 2021 entry (which, at the close of the festival, was Apichatpong Weerasthakul's Memoria). Still, the sophomore feature from Raw director Julia Ducournau received generally positive reviews from critics at the fest. Described as "extreme cinema" and a "nightmarish yet mischievously comic barrage of sex, violence, lurid lighting and pounding music" by the BBC's Nicholas Barber, the highly stylized Titane is a loosely plotted, highly stylized film that follows a 30-something woman serial killer with a steel plate in her head who poses as a missing teen boy to evade capture. In her first trip to Cannes, Ducournau became only the second female Palme d'Or winner in history, following Jane Campion's groundbreaking victory in 1993.

"With Titane, audiences occasionally just have to give themselves over to the movie's demented momentum, taking whatever perverse pleasure they can from Ducournau's willingness to push the boundaries." —Peter Debruge, Variety

1999 winner

The Dardenne brothers' first of two Cannes Palme d'Or trophies came for this 1999 drama centering on the titular teen girl (í‰milie Dequenne, who tied for an acting award at Cannes) who searches for a job in order to raise enough money to move away from her alcoholic mother. Shot in a documentary style with handheld cameras, the film collected mostly favorable reviews from critics as well as the unanimous support of the Cannes jury, which picked Rosetta ahead of fellow Cannes entries like Pedro Almodóvar's All About My Mother, David Lynch's G-rated experiment The Straight Story, and Bruno Dumont's Humanité.

"The film's loose, scaled-down technique never turns gimmicky...but enhances the tension and intimacy of Rosetta's struggle." —Edward Guthmann, San Francisco Chronicle

2015 winner

The only Cannes Palme d'Or win to date for noted French filmmaker Jacques Audiard came for this drama that follows a former Tamil Tiger who flees Sri Lanka's civil war along with two strangers and, posing as a family, seeks asylum in Paris. Audiard actually received far better reviews for 2009's A Prophet, but that film left Cannes in 2nd place (with the Grand Prix trophy). And Dheepan won the award despite widespread acclaim for several other Cannes entries including Holocaust drama Son of Saul and Todd Haynes' career-best Carol.

"This may not be the director's most immediately electrifying film, but in its understated way, it's an immensely powerful work." —Andrew Pulver, The Guardian

1992 winner

Danish director Bille August became just the third repeat Palme d'Or winner in Cannes history (there would later be six more) with this Ingmar Bergman-scripted drama based loosely on the troubled early relationship between Bergman's real-life parents, with the film serving as a semi-sequel to Bergman's 1982 feature Fanny and Alexander. A nearly six-hour version of The Best Intentions aired on Swedish television in 1991, but this mere three-hour theatrical edit was good enough to triumph over strong Cannes competitors like Howards End and The Player (and also Basic Instinct, for what it's worth).

"It's all very pretty, but its use of motion-picture possibilities is unimaginative. What lifts The Best Intentions above its visual limitations, and makes it seem impressive, is the extraordinary depth and sincerity of Bergman's screenplay." —David Sterritt, The Christian Science Monitor

2016 winner

Director Ken Loach collected the Palme d'Or for the second time—becoming just the eighth repeat winner in Cannes history—with this 2016 drama that marked his 13th Cannes competition entry (and has since been followed by a 14th). The film, which follows a carpenter who finds himself ineligible for both work and welfare after a heart attack, bested numerous better-reviewed Cannes submissions like Toni Erdmann, Elle, Paterson, The Handmaiden, Graduation, and Aquarius.

"A couple of scenes are perhaps too on the nose, but the naturalistic performances are faultless, the righteous anger controlled, and the bleakness dotted with moments of humour and small acts of kindness. I, Daniel Blake is, first and foremost, a deeply humanistic film." —Jamie Graham, Total Film

1995 winner

A decade after winning his first Palme d'Or, Serbian director Emir Kusturica picked up his second for this epic dramedy (tracing Yugoslav history from WWII through the country's dissolution through the eyes of two friends) that was converted into a (nearly three-hour) feature film from a five-hour miniseries that aired on Serbian television. The film wouldn't reach American audiences until 1997, but critics had generally good things to say about the imaginative, darkly comedic film.

"A feverish pipe dream of a movie, fueled by an unbridled artistic imagination that serves as evidence of mad genius at work." —Rene Rodriguez, The Miami Herald

1998 winner

The fifth and final film screening in competition at Cannes for Greek director Theodoros Angelopoulos, Eternity isn't only the filmmaker's sole Cannes win—it's also the only Greek film in history to win the Palme d'Or. The drama follows a dying author (Bruno Ganz) who twice rescues a young boy on the street and then journeys to bring him home to Albania. The Martin Scorsese-led Cannes jury selected the well-reviewed Eternity over competitors like Hou Hsiao-hsien's Flowers of Shanghai and Thomas Vinterberg's The Celebration.

"Eternity And A Day occasionally lapses into navel-gazing ennui, and Ganz's reluctant kinship with the adorable moppet courts cliché, but Angelopoulos strings together so many haunting, exquisitely choreographed sequences that even his worst ideas are emotionally resonant." —Scott Tobias, A.V. Club

1997 co-winner (tied with The Eel)

The 50th Cannes Film Festival ended with a tie for the top award. One of those winning films brought legendary Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami his only Palme d'Or win in five tries. A slow-paced, minimalist drama that unfolds mostly in real time as a suicidal middle-aged man drives in search of someone who will bury him after he is dead, Taste of Cherry isn't for everyone, but many critics emerged deeply impressed with a "stunning" and "deeply philosophical" film.

"There's a strong elliptical quality to Kiarostami's style, which underlines the filmmaker's ability to maintain focus with considerable emotional force and depth and with great precision." —Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times

1997 co-winner (tied with Taste of Cherry)

Both 1997 Palme d'Or winners received positive reviews, though The Eel scored one point higher than co-winner Taste of Cherry with our panel of critics. The film is an oddball tale of a man (Shall We Dance's Koji Yakusho) who murders his wife, serves a prison sentence, and then opens a barbershop ... while befriending an eel, who serves as his only companion. Directed by Shohei Imamura, The Eel brought Japan its first Cannes win in 14 years—when another Imamura film, The Ballad of Narayama, also won. The Isabelle Adjani-led jury picked its two 1997 winners over better-reviewed competitors like L.A. Confidential and The Sweet Hereafter.

"The Eel careens all over the stylistic map, from irony to slapstick. But it's chaos in the service of rebirth and redemption, a rich screenful of zigzagging." —Jay Carr, The Boston Globe

Acclaimed Romanian filmmaker Cristian Mungiu collected his second career Palme d'Or (following 2007 winner 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days) with this 2026 drama starring Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve as a religious and conservative Romanian couple who relocate with their five children to a Norwegian village, where they come under scrutiny by the townsfolk after one of those children shows up at school with bruises on her body. While other Cannes entries that year may have scored higher, critics still applauded Fjord for its intelligent, unsettling, and slow-burn script and restrained performances.

"Mungiu keeps Fjord riveting by letting it unfold as a moral and social quandary more than a mystery." —Brian Tallerico, RogerEbert.com

2006 winner

The first of two Cannes wins for English director Ken Loach came in 2006 for this period drama that follows two Irish brothers through their country's war for independence from the UK a century ago. Reviews for Barley were solid, but the Wong Kar-wai-led Cannes jury seemed to like it more than critics did; the latter group far preferred Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth.

"This is a war film with an anti-epic feel, best when it forgoes the forced march of plot to hunker down in the trenches of our flawed humanity." —Rick Groen, The Globe and Mail

2009 winner

The first of two Palme d'Or wins for Austrian/German filmmaker Michael Haneke came for this dark and occasionally violent black-and-white drama set in a northern German village of the eve of WWI where events seem to foreshadow the eventual rise of the Nazi regime. Critics rewarded the film with excellent reviews, though they had even greater praise for Cannes competitor A Prophet, which settled for the second-place Grand Prix.

"A kind of mashup of 'Our Town' and 'Village of the Damned,' the film is both draining and enthralling." —Richard Corliss, Time

1993 co-winner (tied with The Piano)

The first split result at Cannes in over a decade (ties are infrequent in recent years, though they were once more common) resulted in two worthy films taking home a Palme d'Or trophy. One of those, Farewell My Concubine, was China's (and Hong Kong's) first and only Cannes winner. The adaptation of Lilian Lee's novel from director Chen Kaige centers on a pair of opera actors and lifelong friends played Leslie Cheung and Zhang Fengyi (Gong Li also stars as the latter's wife), set against six decades of a changing China both before and after the Cultural Revolution. Concubine received a pair of Oscar nominations and is widely regarded as one of the best Chinese-language films of the 20th century, though it didn't score quite as highly with critics as its English-language Cannes co-winner.

"No film can ever hope to convey the complex mosaic of cultural upheaval caused by everything that happened between 1924 and 1977, but Farewell My Concubine does an excellent job presenting samples of the flavor while telling a story that is both epic and intimate." —James Berardinelli, Reelviews

2011 winner

Legendary director Terrence Malick finally got a Cannes win—over 30 years after bringing his first film to the festival—with his elliptical meditation on the origin of life starring Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, and Jessica Chastain. Tree wasn't the best-reviewed film at the festival; eventual Oscar winner The Artist and the Dardennes' The Kid With a Bike both scored a few points higher.

"The only other film I've seen with this boldness of vision is Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey,' and it lacked Malick's fierce evocation of human feeling." —Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

2002 winner

A David Lynch-led jury had more than a few worthy films to consider at the 55th Cannes Film Festival, with Alexander Sokurov's Russian Ark, Alexander Payne's About Schmidt, Paul Thomas Anderson's Punch-Drunk Love, Abbas Kiarostami's Ten, Aki Kaurismí¤ki's The Man Without a Past, Ken Loach's Sweet Sixteen, and Michael Winterbottom's 24 Hour Party People among the critically acclaimed films making up the competition slate. But it was Roman Polanski's Adrien Brody-led Holocaust drama that collected the trophy, giving the exiled director his first and only Palme d'Or. The Pianist would go on to receive seven Oscar nominations and win three, including a director Oscar for Polanski (also his first and only).

"A great movie on a powerful, essential subject -- the Holocaust years in Poland -- directed with such artistry and skill that, as we watch, the barriers of the screen seem to melt away." —Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune

2023 winner

A courtroom drama from French writer-director Justine Triet (Sibyl), Anatomy of a Fall centers on a family of three—mother Sandra (Sandra Hí¼ller), father Samuel, and their visually impaired son Daniel—living in a remote mountain village. When Samuel is found dead outside the house, Sandra is indicted for homicide, eventually leading to a trial in which young Daniel serves as a key witness. Critics were unequivocal in their praise of the psychological thriller, finding Fall to be intelligent, intimate, and nuanced. It's just the third film in Cannes history to be directed by a woman.

"This whole film has a wizardry to it which you'll be thinking about for days." —Tim Robey, The Telegraph

2010 winner

The first Thai film to win the Palme d'Or, Uncle Boonmee is a career highlight for acclaimed director Apichatpong "Joe" Weerasethakul, who previously won other Cannes awards but never the top prize. The comedic and dreamlike film centers on a man in the final days of his life as he reconnects with his own past lives and the spirits of his loved ones. Critics had high praise for the film, making it the best-reviewed title in a competition that also included Mike Leigh's Another Year, Xavier Beauvois' Of Gods and Men, and Abbas Kiarostami's Certified Copy.

"A work of unostentatious beauty and uncloying sweetness, at once sophisticated and artless, mysterious and matter-of-fact, cosmic and humble, it asks only a measure of Boonmeevian acceptance: The movie doesn't mean anything-it simply is." —J. Hoberman, Village Voice

2005 winner

The second Cannes win for brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne is unrelated to their previous (non-winning) Cannes entry The Son despite the similar title. Instead, The Child centers on a young, poor petty thief named Bruno who goes behind his 18-year-old girlfriend's back and sells their infant child on the black market—only to then try to undo the move when his partner is (understandably) devastated. While it isn't the highest-scoring film in this list, it was the best-reviewed title to compete at Cannes in 2005.

"For all its seeming simplicity, this is an emotionally and intellectually complex film that holds the viewer in a grip as tight as any classic thriller you can name." —Glenn Kenny, Premiere

2014 winner

Oft-praised Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan collected his country's second Palme d'Or (and his first, personally) for one of the best-reviewed films of his career. Loosely based on the Chekhov short story "The Wife," the talk-heavy 2014 drama focuses on the stormy relationship between an actor-turned-innkeeper, his young wife, and his recently divorced sister during a snowy Anatolian winter. But Winter Sleep was not quite the best-reviewed film to compete at Cannes in 2014; Two Days, One Night, Mr. Turner and Leviathan all scored even higher.

"While it doesn't always earn its heft, Winter Sleep is both subdued and rich in details, its plot growing slowly over a series of extensive conversations. It's a robust, challenging experience he's been building toward with his previous features, as well as an adventurous step above them." —Eric Kohn, IndieWire

1993 co-winner (tied with Farewell My Concubine)

As we write this*, It is now the year 2021, in the middle of the 74th Cannes Film Festival, and somehow only one woman has ever won the Palme d'Or. That happened for the first and only time in 1993 when New Zealand native Jane Campion took home the trophy (in a tie, no less) for her stellar 19th century drama about a mute Scottish woman (Holly Hunter), her arranged marriage to a New Zealand frontiersman (Sam Neill), her young daughter (Anna Paquin, in her first role), and the man who helps save her beloved piano (Harvey Keitel). The arthouse film later became an unlikely box office hit (grossing a shocking $140 million) and was one of the most heralded films of 1993, eventually receiving eight Oscar nominations and winning three of them (for Hunter, Paquin, and Campion's screenplay).

* Updated July 17, 2021: There's now a second female Palme d'Or winner, after the 2021 award was given to Julia Ducournau and Titane.

"Prepare yourself for something very special...Here's a severely beautiful, mysterious movie that, as if by magic, liberates the romantic imagination." —Vincent Canby, The New York Times

2013 winner

Abdellatif Kechiche's still-controversial lesbian romance, an adaptation of the graphic novel by Jul Maroh, collected the 2013 trophy on its way to becoming one of that year's best-reviewed films. Other Cannes entries that year included the Coen brothers' even better-reviewed drama Inside Llewyn Davis and Alexander Payne's Nebraska. Kechiche would later bring another film to the Croisette, but that one was—well, it was a bit of a disaster.

"Blue is the Warmest Color is a masterpiece of human warmth, empathy and generosity, because in a mere three hours, it gives you a whole new life to have lived." —Jessica Kiang, The Playlist

2024 winner

Writer-director Sean Baker's second film to screen in the competition, following 2021's Red Rocket, is similar to that previous feature in that it's a black comedy centering on a sex worker. But instead of following a porn star in Texas, Anora heads to New York, where young Brooklynite strip club dancer Ani (played by a stellar Mikey Madison of FX's Better Things) impulsively marries the 21-year-old son (Mark Eydelshteyn, compared by many critics to Timothée Chalamet) of a Russian oligarch. But when his parents learn of the nuptials, they immediately take measures to put an end to the couple's newlywed bliss. What follows is a screwball comedy that veers into violence as well as a strong emotional climax.

"Anora is a devastating, gut-busting beauty ... the kind that hurts your heart and holds you tight to recover at the same time, tears of laughter streaming down your face." —Luke Hicks, The Film Stage

2025 winner

Returning to Cannes for the first time in seven years, Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi (Taxi, No Bears) collected his first Palme d'Or trophy for a film informed by his time spent as a political prisoner in his native country. The thriller begins with a simple automobile accident that kicks off a series of increasingly intense events as the driver brings his car to a mechanic, only for the latter to identify him—with some uncertainty—as the man who tortured him while he was imprisoned. If it wasn't quite the most critically lauded film at the 78th Cannes Film Festival, it was close—and it also gave distributor Neon its sixth consecutive Palme d'or win.

"Panahi welds scorching social critique to a masterful command of form: a devastating cry for justice, his latest also serves as a superb thriller. It is a towering achievement." —Leonardo Goi, The Film Stage

1996 winner

Mike Leigh's masterful 1996 dramedy centers on a middle-aged London factory worker (Brenda Blethyn, also the best actress winner at the festival) who is surprised by the arrival of the daughter she gave up for adoption at birth—much like the latter, a middle-class black optometrist played by Marianne Jean-Baptiste, is surprised to discover that her birth mother is white. It's one of the very best films of the English director's stellar career and would go on to receive five Oscar nominations including best picture.

Though it would seem that the Francis Ford Coppola-led Cannes jury had an easy choice to make, Secrets was far from the only terrific film at the 1996 festival. Other well-reviewed films screening in competition that year included Fargo, Jacques Audiard's A Self Made Hero, and André Téchiné's Thieves, and Lars von Trier's Breaking the Waves.

"The results are wondrous, wrenching and crazily funny to behold." —David Ansen, Newsweek

2008 winner

You would think that French filmmakers would have an edge at Cannes, but just three native Frenchmen have collected the Palme d'Or in the past three decades. One of those is Laurent Cantet, who won in 2008 for this drama about a French teacher at a middle school in a working-class, immigrant-filled district, based on the semi-autobiographical novel by Franí§ois Bégaudeau. Not just the most acclaimed film at Cannes (though Waltz With Bashir came close), The Class was the best-reviewed live-action film to debut in all of 2008 and was nominated for a foreign-language Oscar. It remains Cantent's only film to screen in the main competition at Cannes.

"I would be surprised if this brilliant and touching film didn't become required viewing for teachers all over the United States. Everyone else should see it as well--it's a wonderful movie." —David Denby, The New Yorker

2018 winner

The fifth film to play in competition at Cannes for Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda was his first to collect the Palme d'Or (and the fifth Japanese film to do so). A moving, deeply human drama about a group of unrelated, impoverished people in Tokyo who live together as a de facto family and use shoplifting as a means of survival, Shoplifters was the best-reviewed film at Cannes in 2018 (indeed, only two films in all of 2018 scored higher), and it was later nominated for a foreign-language Oscar.

"A tender ensemble piece whose skillful performances dovetail into a perfectly symphonic whole, Shoplifters is a work of such emotional delicacy and formal modesty that you're barely prepared when the full force of what it's doing suddenly knocks you sideways." —Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times

1994 winner

It's hard to argue with this pick, but it was a tougher choice than it first seems. Quentin Tarantino's second and best feature wasn't able to take home a best picture Oscar (memorably losing to Forrest Gump), but it was able to collect the top award handed out by a Cannes jury led by Clint Eastwood. Pulp Fiction would become a surprise box office hit when it opened in theaters five months later, on its way to cementing its place on numerous lists of the greatest films of all time.

But there was worthy competition. Among the Cannes entries in 1994, the other immediate standout is Krzysztof Kieślowski's brilliant final film Red, which probably would have won the Palme d'Or in almost any other year (and also stands as one of the greatest films of all time). That film's Metascore? A perfect 100.

"It is an exhilaration from beginning to end. It's the movie equivalent of that rare sort of novel where you find yourself checking to see how many pages are left and hoping there are more, not fewer." —Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

2012 winner

Michael Haneke picked up the Palme d'Or for the second time in four years with this drama about an elderly married couple (Jean-Louis Trintignant, Emmanuelle Riva) dealing with the repercussions of a devastating stroke. One of the best-reviewed releases of all of 2012 (trailing only Zero Dark Thirty), Amour would later go on to win a foreign-language Oscar (and receive four additional Academy Award nominations, including best picture and one for Haneke as director).

"Small, sure and stunningly acted, this is a picture of exacting control." —Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune

2019 winner

Bong Joon-ho's darkly comedic 2019 thriller Parasite wasn't just the best-reviewed film of 2019; it was also an Oscar best picture winner—just one of many honors the film received following its historic Cannes win, when it became the first South Korean film to win the Palme d'Or and the second straight Cannes winner (following Shoplifters) to tackle themes of class divisions. Parasite's win was even more impressive given the unusually strong Cannes slate in 2019 that also included Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Atlantics, and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

Only two other films in history won both the Palme d'Or and the best picture Oscar: 1955's Marty and 1945's The Lost Weekend.

"Few filmmakers can manage such a dizzying blend of tones, but for Bong, one of South Korea's finest directors, it's a trademark. With Parasite he's crafted his best movie yet." —David Sims, The Atlantic

2007 winner

Only three films released in the 21st century— Boyhood, Moonlight, and Pan's Labyrinth —have a Metascore higher than that for this abortion drama set in the waning days of Communist-run Romania from filmmaker Cristian Mungiu. Not released in the States until 2008, 4 Months took home the Palme d'Or in May 2007 over a strong slate of competitors that included the Coen brothers' No Country for Old Men, Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis, and Julian Schnabel's The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (which all scored 90 or higher). But despite that honor and the widespread acclaim, the film was completely ignored by Oscar voters—an omission that led to some (minor) reforms of the Academy's nominating process.

"First, this movie should be enjoyed. Later, marveled at. And then, once the excitement has faded, 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days really should be studied, because director Cristian Mungiu creates scenes unlike any ever filmed." —Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle