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.
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 Kaurismäki'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
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