The discrepancy between audience applause and genuine quality continues to widen year after year, and people are beginning to catch onto how meaningless these reports are. This ultimately begs the question: What is the value of a lengthy standing ovation at these film festivals anymore? At this point, we ought to acknowledge that these misleading headlines shed little insight into how these films will ultimately be received by critics, by the general public, and by awards voters down the road. So why do we continue to care if people were clapping for almost 20 minutes? It’s an obscene waste of time and energy. Who wants to stand and applaud for that long? Think of all the things you could accomplish during that time! You could finish a book, get some exercise, or watch almost an entire episode of a television series instead. However, the most important reason why we need to ditch reporting about these overlong standing ovations is that they serve no one except the already overpraised celebrities in attendance.
Breaking Down the Cannes Standing Ovations
According to a recent report in Indiewire, the longest standing ovation in Cannes history was Pan’s Labyrinth in 2006. It’s a relief that this one is actually a great film, but could there have been a better way to show love for Guillermo Del Toro’s masterpiece than clap for 22 minutes? That’s nearly a quarter of the length of the entire runtime. Interestingly enough, every film reflected in this report was released in the 21st century, so long standing ovations are a relatively recent phenomenon at the legendary film festival.
What’s more, the trend is only growing more rampant. This year, dozens of films have earned standing ovations that exceeded five minutes. Thus far, Joaquim Trier's Sentimental Value holds the longest record at almost 19 minutes, followed by Klebar Mendonca Filho’s The Secret Agent, which clocked in at almost 15 minutes. Both films earned positive reviews, but Julia Ducournau’s largely panned Alpha is not far behind at nearly 12 minutes.
Meanwhile, the film that earned far and away the most glowing reviews of the festival was German debut filmmaker Mascha Schilinski’s Sound of Falling. Despite being hailed as a masterpiece by all the major Hollywood trades, it only earned a 4-minute standing ovation. By Cannes metrics these days, that doesn’t seem to be very much. If I were to venture a guess as to why this discrepancy is so significant, it would be that this is a debut feature with no major film stars attached. By comparison, both The Secret Agent and Alpha are directed by filmmakers who have presented projects at Cannes before, and both include internationally acclaimed actors (Wagner Moura and Tahar Rahim, respectively).
Other films that earned longer ovations despite weaker critical reception include Kristen Stewart’s The Chronology of Water, the Jennifer Lawrence comeback vehicle Die, My Love, and Spike Lee’s Highest 2 Lowest. Notice a commonality here? If the reception for Sound of Falling serves as indication of anything, it’s that quality bears no impact on standing ovation length.
What Cannes Be Done?
There are plenty of ways to shower deserved praise at these festivals, but standing ovations have proven to be misleading and ineffective. For starters, keep the focus on the films themselves. Hold the applause and use that valuable time instead to organize more post-film discussion. Allowing filmmakers and cast members to speak directly to their audience is part of what is unique about having a festival at all. Furthermore, the press that often comes out of these Q&A’s are far better reflections of the films themselves, as the focus is more about the artistry and less about how long people were clapping.
Additionally, if you were to add up all of these overlong standing ovations together, you would likely have the length of at least a few more movies. That means more films could be programmed, and therefore, more opportunities could be given to more filmmakers. Sure, it means we would be heaping less praise on the most famous people in the room, but the glitz and the glamor are not supposed to be the point of these presentations. There are already far too many events where Hollywood A-listers are applauded. Besides, these stars always look intensely uncomfortable during these standing ovations, so what’s the point if they aren’t even enjoying the praise?
We need to let film festivals be about the art and not about who was there. It should be about the provocative questions these filmmakers are asking rather than whether or not Jennifer Lawrence is an early favorite for next year’s Academy Awards. The superficiality of standing ovations has cheapened what has historically made Cannes special. This is a festival that has championed some of the greatest filmmakers in the world before anyone else knew who they were. Ditching these self-congratulatory gestures is one effective way that Cannes can bring the focus back to the work. We know they can enforce this change. After all, just this year, the festival updated its strict dress code to ban, among other things, overly long dress trains. If they can do this effectively, they certainly can ban overly long standing ovations as well.
via Jovan Vasiljevic