And so it ends again. The Cannes Film Festival wraps tonight following the awards ceremony and a screening of “Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky” which will put a close to the two-week marathon affair.

All in all, it was a sort of middling festival. The weather was fabulous (never a certainty), some of the films got people excited, but some not so much and business was pretty so-so.

Highlights this year of course included a rousing reception for Disney/Pixar’s “Up”; Quentin Tarantino’s unveiling of “Inglourious Basterds” (a film which divided critics); Lars Von Trier’s insistence that he is the “world’s greatest director” (an opinion shared by whom? Anyone?…Anyone?) and the 19-year-old hyphenate Xavier Dolan who swept prizes in the Fortnight with “I Killed My Mother.”

Now, critics are bleary-eyed; the trade journalists (myself included) are exhausted from chasing deal stories of which there were too few (a reflection on the times in which we live); filmmakers are either breathing a sigh of relief or cursing the day they allowed themselves to be exposed to the often harsh Cannes audiences; executives are trying to gauge the future of independent film (an eternal question) and celeb-watchers are likely a bit disappointed.

Brangelina and Jim Carrey zipped in and out of town, Robert Pattinson was zealously guarded by guys too big for the NBA and none of the Heath Ledger stand-ins stood up on the red carpet for “Doctor Parnassus.” Honestly, where is George Clooney – or, hell, Sacha Baron Cohen - when you need him?

Speaking of Baron Cohen, festival director Thierry Fremaux told me several weeks ago that he would have been psyched to have the chance to have “Bruno” in Cannes. But, he hadn’t seen the film and as the release date was set for July it wasn’t a possibility.

A couple years ago, Baron Cohen as Borat made a huge splash in Cannes in his famous yellow ‘mankini.’ Bruno’s short shorts slinking down the Croisette would have been just the ticket this year.

I really have nothing to complain about, though. Twelve years on, I’m still like a kid in a candy store during the two weeks I get to spend reconnecting with old friends and colleagues, chasing down scoops, occasionally seeing films, learning about new talent and sipping champagne with the indie and celeb crowd.

And, after all, I have a glorious 50 weeks to recuperate before it all starts again.

One of the best moments came when a shocked Christoph Waltz - Quentin Tarantino’s Col. Hans Landa in “Inglorious Basterds” - took the best acting award. In keeping (mercifully only somewhat) with his character, he gave an acceptance speech in French, English and German and thanked Tarantino for reviving his career.

Michael Haneke’s “The White Ribbon” has won the Palme d’Or for best film in Cannes. The director, who now has three major Cannes prizes under his belt, warmly hugged jury president Isabelle Huppert when he mounted the stage.

The moment also marked the only time Huppert smiled (on camera at least) during the entire ceremony (as I noted in an earlier post, Huppert won her second acting Palme for Haneke’s “La Pianiste” in 2001).

Continue reading for the rest of the winners

Jacques Audiard’s “A Prophet” won the Grand Jury Prize. The super-cool director appeared to temporarily lose his composure when he loosely quoted from “Out of Africa” during his acceptance speech, telling the jury “From now on, if you say anything, I’ll believe you.”

Although the main actor from “A Prophet” had been hotly-tipped as a best actor laureate, the honor went instead to “Basterds’” Christoph Waltz who emotionally accepted the acting nod with a shout out to QT in saying, “You gave me my vocation back.”

Charlotte Gainsbourg earned the best actress award for her turn in Lars Von Trier’s “Antichrist.”

Best directing honors went to Brillante Mendoza for “Kinatay” and the screenplay prize was awarded to Mei Feng for Lou Ye’s “Spring Fever.”

Andrea Arnold, meanwhile, has a perfect score now having won her second Jury Prize in a row with “Fish Tank.” The British director previously won the Jury Prize for “Red Road” in 2006. Korean director Park Chan Wook shared this year’s prize with Arnold for his “Thirst.”

Other highlights included Australia’s Warwick Thornton getting the Camera d’Or for his first film, “Samson & Delilah” and an ‘exceptional’ prize for 87-year-old director Alain Resnais and his “Wild Grass.”

Michael Haneke's "The White Ribbon"

The prizes are starting to roll in for the various Cannes sections while the Croisette sits on tenterhooks in anticipation of tonight’s big awards.

I keep getting text messages from folks with something at stake asking if I know anything about tonight’s potential Palme d’Or outcome. I don’t, at least not anymore than the general consensus that Jacques Audiard’s “A Prophet” and Michael Haneke’s “White Ribbon” are strong contenders. Jane Campion’s “Bright Star” could be poised for a recompense as could 87-year-old director Alain Resnais‘ “Wild Grass.”

Just now, I received a text message telling me that Lou Ye’s “Spring Fever” is now a frontrunner. The controversial director was banned from filming in China after his last film, “Summer Palace,” was shown in competition in 2006 without the approval of the Chinese censors. He made “Spring Fever” completely under the radar in the country and is now said to be leaving China for good.

There are always surprises at the final awards ceremony; it’s a given. This year, however, there could be more than usual. Scuttlebutt around town has been that jury president Isabelle Huppert - best known to non-arthouse/non-foreign audiences for a role in David O. Russell’s “I Heart Huckabees” - is a taskmaster of a leader.

Reportedly, jury member James Gray - director of such films as “Two Lovers” and “The Yards” - has been locking horns with Huppert in their closed-door deliberations.

Although jury voting by definition is supposed to be a democratic affair, the Cannes jury president sits in a powerful position with an opinion that generally wins out in cases of conflict.

Indeed, in Cannes, juries are known as belonging to the president. Rather than refer to the panel as, say, “The 2004 jury,” you would call it “Quentin Tarantino’s jury.”

Should Haneke’s “White Ribbon” - a “meticulously constructed, precisely modulated tapestry of malice and intrigue,”  according to Screen - win a big prize, it will be interesting to hear the post-game comments. Huppert won her second acting Palme d’Or in 2001 for Haneke’s “La Pianiste.”

Un Certain Regard:

Main prize to “Dogtooth” by Yorgos Lanthimos

Jury prize to “Police, Adjective” by Corneliu Porumboiu

Special prizes to “No One Know About Persian Cats” by Bahman Ghobadi and “Father of My Children” by Mia Hansen-Love

Critics’ Week:

Grand prize to “Adieu Gary” by Nassim Amaouche

Other prizes to  “Lost Persons Area” by Caroline Strubbe and “Whisper With the Wind” by Shahram Alidi

Directors’ Fortnight:

Three major prizes to “I Killed My Mother” by (19-year-old!) Xavier Dolan

Other nods to “La Merditude Des Choses” by Felix van Groeningen and “La Pivellina” by Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel

Keep reading for the “Antichrist” anti-award

'Looking for Eric'

Ecumenical Jury:

Top prize: “Looking for Eric” by Ken Loach with special mention for Michael Haneke’s “The White Ribbon”

Anti-Award to “Antichrist” by Lars Von Trier

The jury called it “the most misogynist movie from the self-proclaimed biggest director in the world.”

That prompted festival director Thierry Fremaux, who is the final word on the selection, to tell AFP it was a “ridiculous decision that borders on a call for censorship, (it is) scandalous coming from an ‘ecumenical’ jury which what is more is headed by a film-maker.”

FIPRESCI (international critics):

A prize each to “The White Ribbon,” “Police, Adjective” and “Amreeka” by Cherien Dabis

The outrageously gorgeous Villa de Mai was all a twinkle last night for the joint “Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus“/”Drag Me To Hell” party up in the hills above Cannes.

Although, as predicted, none of the major males from Heath Ledger’s last film were in attendance, director Terry Glliam and star Lily Cole ventured to the soiree while “Hell” director Sam Raimi and his stars Justin Long and Alison Lohman also popped by to sip on Pommery champagne and take in the spectacular vistas.

“Imaginarium” was warmly received by many critics while “Hell” continued to wow. Both films were official selections here in Cannes but are not competition films. (On that front, no one it seems, can stop talking about Jacques Audiard’s “A Prophet” but we have to wait until Sunday night to know the final outcome.)

The Villa de Mai, where the party was held, is a favorite for Cannes-goers. Although it has a treacherous staircase that inspires fear in even the most seasoned four-inch heel wearer, the trek down to the various terraces is worth it.

Each year the villa is the site of at least one bash - a memorable “Swimming Pool” party for Francois Ozon’s film in 2003 remains a favorite - and never disappoints. And last night was no exception. An actual swimming pool on one of the many levels was misted over by fog machines to lend a particularly funky hue to the neon lights around.

Meanwhile, a party for Gaspar Noe’s “Enter The Void” - alternately called a hypnotic “mindf***” and “not clever enough to be truly pretentious” - took place down on the Cha Cha Cha beach before moving to another Villa. This one is in town and is actually a nightclub that for two years running has been taken over by French film sales and finance company extraordinaire Wild Bunch.

Forever living up to their name, the Wild Bunch threw a bash that ran into the very wee hours. Noe held court in the VIP section while folks sloshed down Red Basil cocktails (probably 9 parts Absolut vodka and 1 part puréed strawberries) before heading home to lay down their extremely weary heads after 10 days of festival fatigue.

Terry Gilliam’s “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” screened for the press this morning to warm reactions. Heath Ledger’s last film famously employed three very famous actors to replace him after his untimely death.

Unfortunately, as of Friday morning in Cannes, none of the trio - Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell and Jude Law - were set to make an appearance on the red carpet for the film’s special screening tonight.

Read more to find out why…

The reasons, I’ve heard from a source close to the film, are that the three actors are busy filming elsewhere and couldn’t get away. I at first thought that was kind of a lame excuse; surely they could jet out for the day from wherever, support the film with a red carpet twirl and get back to business.

But, when I spoke to a director friend of mine - who has nothing to do with “Parnassus” - he said that sure enough sometimes it’s just not a possibility. It’s really a shame given that Johnny Depp is practically French himself at this point and something of a regular here. The three dashing men would have made for a rich red carpet.

Meanwhile, just this morning I heard from someone who overheard someone else saying the real reason they weren’t coming is because only two of the three could make it and the folks behind the film wanted all or nothing.

Gilliam and Lily Cole will be in attendance, however, and I’m going to the after-party so if there are any surprises, I’ll be sure to report back.

A couple of years ago, George Clooney auctioned off a kiss at the benefit to the girlfriend of a bidder who paid $350,000.

Reports today say that two lucky little girls will get a kiss on the cheek from Robert Pattinson after their parents bid 20,000 euros each for the honor.

I really must get myself on the guest list for this event…

There’s an occupational hazard heading into the final weekend at Cannes: Radio reporters with microphones and TV reporters with cameras surge up out of nowhere demanding to know “What do you think will win?”

If the running tally of critical opinions in the trades can be trusted (which, of course, it can’t), then Jacques Audiard’s entrepreneurial prison primer “A Prophet” is the front runner and Jane Campion’s affecting account of a  doomed 19th century romance, “Bright Star,” is a close second.

Jacques Audiard's "A Prophet"

Quentin Tarantino’s WWII revenge fantasy-cum-Western “Inglourious Basterds” took Cannes by storm on Wednesday. It’s a relatively straightforward but creative re-writing of history involving high ranking Nazis and very tough Jews.

Skeptics say that despite the trademark Tarantino humor, the fact that German and French-speaking characters are subtitled will be a commercial stumbling block.  To this, on behalf of all Americans, I say “Yes we can!”  Read subtitles, that is.  The rest of the planet does when watching Hollywood fare.

Are we, like, stupider than the rest of the planet?  Case closed.

Lars Von Trier’s “Antichrist” made headlines when reporters took some of its more violent imagery out of context. Although it can’t be denied that the film is a squirm-inducing experience, it should be acknowledged as an intense portrait of grief. IFC has picked it up for the U.S. along with Ken Loach’s working class comedy “Looking for Eric.”

In that film, a put-upon middle aged postal worker in Manchester, England works out the solutions to almost all of his problems with the help of his idol, real-life French soccer legend Eric Cantona.  You don’t need to be even slightly interested in the sport most of the world calls “football” to warm to this tale of getting by with a little help from one’s friends.

Pedro Almodovar’s “Broken Embraces” got a warm reception from the French.

Alain Resnais, who turns 87 next month, has made a bittersweet ode to random impulses in “Wild Grass,” the story of a woman who loses her wallet and the man who finds it.

Xavier Giannoli’s “In the Beginning” is based on the near-incredible true story of a homeless man who convinced a small French town to build a stretch of highway.

That doesn’t sound like it could hold your attention for two and half hours, but it’s a fascinating look at trust, hope and the universal human yearning to be useful.  It’s suspenseful, funny and touching with a wonderful central performance from François Cluzet, the harried protagonist in “Tell No One.”

So, so far French directors (Audiard, Resnais, Giannoli) are looking very good indeed on home soil, with Gaspar Noe’s long-awaited “Enter the Void” still to come. (Lisa Nesselson)

You could tell that Pierre did truly love the mademoiselle...

Few people do a red carpet quite like Quentin Tarantino. The manic director shimmied with his “Inglourious Basterds” star Melanie Laurent at the bottom of the Palais steps last night as they waited for the rest of their international cast to show up.

All the “Basterds” were there: Brad Pitt, Diane Kruger, Daniel Bruhl, Mike Myers and company. Preceding them up the steps were the likes of Robert Pattinson, Sharon Stone (in a headline-grabbing dress) and Dita von Teese.

Having done my own red carpet stroll a few minutes before the big arrivals, I watched them on a big screen inside the Palais’ Salle Lumiere where the film would be shown.

When Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie turned, up the crowd inside the Palais made a collective “ooohhhh.”

Just before they joined QT, et al, you could read Brad’s lips saying to his partner, “Do you want to sign?” and off they went to sign autographs for the thousands of fans who had been lined up in front of the Palais for days hoping for just such a chance.

Then it was the “Basterds’” turn to pose for the photographers on the red carpet while a forlorn (annoyed? bored?) looking Angelina hung back and waited.

After several minutes of photo ops with the team, Pitt hustled back to the bottom of the carpet and picked up Angie for their spin. The crowd inside the Palais then sighed a collective, “Awwww.”

Before you knew it, everyone was in the house - I was just about 6 rows behind them all in fact - and we settled in for the flick.

Our friend Lisa Nesselson has a great take on QT’s “Basterd” brain without giving too much away.