Every Cannes Palme d'Or Winner Since 1990, Ranked
Updated May 27, 2023 with the 2023 Palme d'Or winner, Anatomy of a Fall.
A best picture Oscar may be film's peak honor, but a Cannes Palme d'Or win isn't far behind. Though it didn't adopt its current name (which translates to "Golden Palm" in English) on a permanent basis until 1975, the top award at the globe's most prestigious film festival has been handed out in nearly every year since 1946, with occasional interruptions (most recently in 2020, when the festival was canceled during the COVID pandemic).
Is the latest Palme d'Or winner a favorite with critics as well? Not every Palme d'Or recipient is, as Cannes juries (typically composed of actors and directors, and different every year) don't always have the same tastes as reviewers. In the gallery on this page, we rank all of the Cannes winners since 1990. They are arranged from worst to best by Metascore, which reflects the consensus of professional critics for each film.
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
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