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.
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
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