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.
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
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