The Cannes Film Festival means many different things to many different people — from masterpiece movies to not-so-well-regarded ones, from glitz and glamour to sometime controversy. In the latter category, though not as hotly debated as say, the Palme d’Or winner, is the now de rigueur practice of timing standing ovations.
Related Stories
What’s become a ritual, not only in Cannes but also at the Venice Film Festival, really only caught fire a handful of years ago as reporters, publicists and sales companies see an opportunity for clicks, crowing rights and marketing hooks. There are a lot of skeptics out there with regard to these stories; it’s a love/hate relationship: They seem to irk folks while also generating plenty of chatter.
But it’s also a chance to marvel at the sheer emotion a movie can elicit, and that’s something we here at Deadline celebrate. Among the films that have received the warmest response at the Palais, many went on to great success.
Watch on Deadline
Now, there is (to our knowledge) no official record — there is certainly no official method for timing applause — but it’s roundly considered that Guillermo del Toro’s 2006 fantasy drama Pan’s Labyrinth is the granddaddy of them all at 22 minutes. While it didn’t win any prizes on the Riviera, it went on to scoop three Oscars and solidify del Toro as a visionary filmmaker.
Deadline’s history of scrupulously tracking ovations began in earnest just a few years ago — though when I reported on the reaction to Mel Gibson’s 2016 comeback, Hacksaw Ridge, in Venice, it signaled there was a desire for this type of coverage.
In the intervening time, I was a staunch believer in only timing the “standing” part of an ovation, though that has evolved and now we time all of the applause.
Years ago, filmmakers didn’t necessarily speak after a premiere — I recall a turning point in that when Quentin Tarantino debuted Once Upon a Time in Hollywood here. Cannes Film Festival chief Thierry Frémaux now roundly hands a microphone to a director as he encourages a steadycam operator to zero in on famous faces; this arguably leads to longer applause.
But, a note to the skeptics, we do time the applause with a stopwatch — which we pause during speeches and then turn on again once the clapping begins anew.
Other long ovations include for Nicolas Winding Refn’s The Neon Demon at 17 minutes in Cannes 2016 and Michael Moore’s eventual Palme d’Or winner, 2004’s Fahrenheit 9/11, at 20 minutes.
RELATED: Full List Of Cannes Palme d’Or Winners Through The Years: Photo Gallery
Not every extended ovation means a movie is primed for a long and fruitful career, or vice versa. In 2019, Joker received an enthusiastic eight-minute reception in Venice. Last year’s Joker: Folie à Deux exceeded that with nearly 12½ minutes. The first Joker won the Golden Lion, two Oscars and grossed over $1 billion globally. And, Folie à Deux, well we know how that ended up.
Over in Venice, it’s thought that Pedro Almodóvar’s English-language debut, last year’s The Room Next Door, is a Lido record-holder at 18 minutes. While Venice chief Alberto Barbera doesn’t regularly proffer a mic, talent sometimes descends from the gallery amid the applause, which can extend an ovation. Almodóvar did that, as did del Toro when he premiered his Golden Lion and Best Picture Oscar winner The Shape of Water during an emotional unveiling in 2017.
Speaking of del Toro, Jeanne Berney, who now is COO of Picturehouse, was in the Grand Théâtre Lumière when Pan’s Labyrinth premiered and recalls the reaction felt like a “once-in-a-lifetime experience.”
She tells us: “We knew it was a masterpiece — I mean, we loved it, but it wasn’t an easy sell to an audience. When we got into Cannes, it was the closing Saturday night. It was very late in the festival. And it was unusual to go that late, but we felt like we really wanted it to be in Cannes. … A lot of the industry people have left by then, and the room is certainly filled in the front with industry people and friends and agents, but there’s also an awful lot of people that are festival-goers and even local people, especially by that last weekend, right? So, the film played really well. … We felt like it was a fantastic screening.
“And then, when the ovation started, everyone just kind of normally stands up and, you know, isn’t that great? The cameras are panning across. But then as it just kept going, and Guillermo’s warmth in the moment and his reaction as it continued to go on and on. … We just couldn’t believe we were still clapping 10 minutes in, 15 minutes in, but nobody wanted to stop, and they were all so gracious. It was before the days when they bring out the microphone and have the director say something. And this was just a purely blissful, wondrous, once-in-a-lifetime experience. … From the rafters to the stage, from the balcony, everyone stood and applauded, and I never witnessed anything like it again.”