Krieps won for her performance in Corsage, a film about Austro-Hungarian empress Elisabeth. The role was made famous in the 1950s German “Sissi” trilogy starring Romy Schneider, but the adaptation delivered saccharine kitsch and shirked the many controversies that marked the empress’ life.
This is where Marie Kreutzer’s new drama comes in, which depicts Elisabeth nearing the age of 40, obsessed with her ageing body, mourning the loss of a child, trapped in an unhappy marriage and bored with palace protocol.
Vanity Fair called Krieps’ portrayal “fascinatingly modulated” and the actress one of the best at this year’s festival. Variety said the actress is “superb”, with The Hollywood Reporter writing that she “brings a strong sense of intelligence to the role.”
In addition to the acting gong, Corsage also won the Un Certain Regard’s prize for best sound design, awarded by the La Semaine du Son association. This award recognised the work of the Luxembourg sound production team of Carlo Thoss and Alain Goniva and post-production by Philophon Studios, led by Philippe Kohn and Michel Schillings, which included work by Lieven Verbraeken, Loïc Collignon, Nicolas Leroy, Angelo Dos Santos, Philippe Deschamps, Vincent Maloumian and Ken Nnganyadi.
But Corsage (Samsa Film) wasn’t the only Luxembourg co-production to do well at the Cannes festival. Krieps shared the acting award with French actor Adam Bessa, who stars in Harka by Lotfy Nathan (Tarantula Luxembourg).
Harka tells the story of Ali, a young man selling petrol on the black market in Tunisia who must provide for his family following his father’s death, squashing his hopes of crossing the Mediterranean to Europe. “Bessa is a versatile actor who can convey vulnerability one moment and anger the next,” said Deadline about this performance, hailing the film’s “gritty realism”.
Six films at the festival
Luxembourg this year was represented in Cannes with a record number of co-productions. Drama More Than Ever (Samsa Film) screened in the “Un Certain Regard” selection, also starring Krieps opposite Gaspard Ulliel. The film screened posthumously after the 37-year-old actor’s untimely death in January following a skiing accident.
Directed by Emily Atef, the film sees Krieps as a woman in her 30s who travels from France to Norway to come to terms with being diagnosed with a likely fatal lung condition.
Rebel (Calach Films) by directors Adil El Arbi et Bilall Fallah and starring Luxembourg actors Tommy Schlesser and Nassim Rachi featured in the Midnight Screenings line-up while Little Nicholas Happy As Can Be (Bidibul Productions) was part of the Special Screenings selection.
Pamfir (Wady Films), directed by Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk meanwhile was selected for the Directors’ Fortnight, an independent selection of the Cannes Film Festival started in 1969 by the French directors’ guild.