Here are 24 films that competed in the main competition at the Cannes Film Festival in 2021 and their scores on Metacritic (an aggregator site that collects reviews of movies, games and series). This is a kind of cross-section that demonstrates the preferences not of individuals, but of film critics as a whole.
How we've grouped data:
- all films are placed from top to bottom and left to right, from highest to lowest and in alphabetical order;
- the data is current as of the end of July 2021. With more reviews, the score and, as a result, the placement of movies may change significantly.
Memoria — 91 points (dir. Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
Reward: Jury Prize
Genre: drama
What is remarkable: Tilda Swinton travels through Columbia surrounded by strange sounds and tries to get to the bottom of them.
Drive My Car — 88 points (dir. Ryusuke Hamaguchi)
Reward: Best Screenplay
Genre: drama
What is remarkable: an adaptation of Haruki Murakami's short story about a theater director who was happily married until his wife suddenly disappeared. After 2 years, he goes to a neighboring city and rethinks his relationship with his missing wife.
The Worst Person in the World — 87 points (dir. Joachim Trier)
Reward: Best Actress
Genre: drama, comedy
What is remarkable: a comedic drama about a troubled girl that starts on her 20th birthday and ends 10 years later.
The French Dispatch — 82 points (dir. Wes Anderson)
Reward: -
Genre: drama, romance, comedy
What is remarkable: the symmetrical adventures of the employees of an American newspaper located in one of the fanciful buildings in Paris.
Nitram — 81 points (dir. Justin Kurzel)
Reward: Best Actor
Genre: thriller
What is remarkable: the background to the 1996 Port Arthur massacre.
Lingui — 79 points (dir. Mahamat-Saleh Haroun)
Reward: -
Genre: drama
What is remarkable: in the Republic of Chad, a mother tries to abort her 15-year-old daughter, thereby breaking the law.
The Restless — 79 points (dir. Joachim Lafosse)
Reward: -
Genre: drama
What is remarkable: a loving couple is trying to build a family life, facing the challenges of fate and bipolar disorder of his “strong” half.
Paris, 13th District — 79 points (dir. Jacques Audiard)
Reward: -
Genre: drama
What is remarkable: love, friendship and other life troubles of four young men from the 13th arrondissement of Paris.
Red Rocket — 78 points (dir. Sean Baker)
Reward: -
Genre: drama, comedy
What is remarkable: the porn actor, whose career has finally gone downhill, moves to his native Texas, where no one has been waiting for him for a long time.
A Hero — 78 points (dir. Asghar Farhadi)
Reward: Grand Prix
Genre: drama, thriller
What is remarkable: Raheem went to jail because of his debt. When he is given a 2-day vacation, he tries to negotiate with the creditor, but things are not going well.
Bergman Island — 77 points (dir. Mia Hansen-Løve)
Reward: -
Genre: drama
What is remarkable: a couple of American filmmakers come to the Swedish island where Ingmar Bergman spent his last years and died. At some point, the line between reality and fiction is blurred.
Petrov's Flu — 77 points (dir. Kirill Serebrennikov)
Reward: -
Genre: drama, science fiction
What is remarkable: a sketch of how a disease, in this case the common flu, can fill boring lives with unthinkable events.
Compartment No. 6 — 76 points (dir. Juho Kuosmanen)
Reward: Grand Prix
Genre: drama
What is remarkable: a Finnish student takes the Moscow-Murmansk train to escape from a failed and mysterious love.
Ahed's Knee — 74 points (dir. Nadav Lapid)
Reward: Jury Prize
Genre: drama
What is remarkable: the main character is a film director who starts fighting for freedom in the middle of the Israeli countryside.
Titane — 74 points (dir. Julia Ducournau)
Reward: Palme d'Or
Genre: horror, drama
What is remarkable: a surreal and almost animal story about a father and son who meet after a 10-year separation.
Annette — 71 points (dir. Leos Carax)
Reward: Best Director
Genre: musical, drama
What is remarkable: a musical about a stand-up comedian and opera singer, written by members of the Sparks musical group and directed by one of the most extraordinary directors of our time.
Everything Went Fine — 70 points (dir. François Ozon)
Reward: -
Genre: drama
What is remarkable: an 85-year-old and partially paralyzed old man asks his own daughter to save him from suffering.
Benedetta — 68 points (dir. Paul Verhoeven)
Reward: -
Genre: drama, biography, history
What is remarkable: in 17th-century Italy, a nun is tormented by erotic visions that make her fall in love with a new novice.
Casablanca Beats — 64 points (dir. Nabil Ayouch)
Reward: -
Genre: drama
What is remarkable: a former rapper from Casablanca helps local youth fight tedious traditions with street music.
The Divide — 62 points (dir. Catherine Corsini)
Reward: -
Genre: drama
What is remarkable: a couple of two women, on the verge of breaking up, are admitted to a Paris hospital during “yellow vest” rallies.
Flag Day — 55 points (dir. Sean Penn)
Reward: -
Genre: drama, thriller
What is remarkable: a drama about a father who combines the professions of a counterfeiter, a bank robber and a fraudster for his beloved daughter.
France — 53 points (dir. Bruno Dumont)
Reward: -
Genre: drama, comedy
What is remarkable: the everyday life of a famous French journalist is turned upside down after a car accident.
Three Floors — 40 points (dir. Nanni Moretti)
Reward: -
Genre: drama, comedy
What is remarkable: a drama about three families occupying different floors of an expensive condominium.
The Story of My Wife — 40 points (dir. Ildikó Enyedi)
Reward: -
Genre: drama, romance
What is remarkable: a sea captain makes a bet with a friend that he is marrying the first woman to enter the café where they are vacationing.
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