At the Cannes Film Festival this year, history was once again made when French filmmaker Justine Triet became only the third female director to win the highly coveted Palme d’Or for the film Anatomy of a Fall (Deadline). Preceding Triet are Jane Campion’s The Piano in 1993 and Julia Ducournau’s Titane in 2021.

Anatomy of a Fall follows a German writer named Sandra (Sandra Hüller), her French husband Samuel, and their eleven-year-old son Daniel. While living in their small, remote town within the French Alps, Samuel is found dead under the family’s chalet. Despite police involvement to investigate the death and remedy the situation, Sandra is soon under suspicion for Samuel’s death.

Before the winner of the award was announced, Jane Fonda graced the stage to note the significance that there were so many female directors in the running. She stated: “The last time I came (to the festival) was 1963, a lot of you weren’t even born yet… There were no women directors competing at that time and it never occurred to us there was something wrong with that… We have progressed, but we have a long way to go… We have to celebrate change when it happens. This year is the first time there are seven women directors in competition.”

Triet showed her gratitude for the award and also took the opportunity to raise awareness surrounding the French protests regarding retirement age reforms. The director stated: “This year, our country has experienced a historic dispute… This dispute was denied and suppressed in a shocking manner, and this pattern of increasingly uninhibited dominating power is breaking out in several areas; obviously socially is where it is the most shocking, but we also see it in all spheres of society, and the cinema is no exception. The commodification of culture that the neo-liberal government is defending is breaking the French cultural exception. I dedicate this prize to all young female and male directors and to those who today are unable to make films. We see ourselves making room for them, this place that I took 15 years ago in a world that was a little less hostile which still considered it possible to make mistakes and start over.”