Laurent Cantet’s exceptional docu-drama The Class, set in a high school, is the first French film to win the Palme d’Or at Cannes since 1987 when Maurice Pialat won for Under the Sun of Satan.

The announcement of Pialat’s win was famously booed at the press conference, but The Class is a far more popular choice for the top prize. Universally acclaimed, it uses a first-rate, nonprofessional cast to explore multiculturalism, education and generational divides with an admirable wit and lightness of touch. As the final film to screen in competition, The Class lifted the spirits of jaded festival-goers.

It was an upbeat end to a festival that was in danger of being remembered as the one where the heavens opened and poured rain and disappointment on the parade – where Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie practically aqua-planed along the red carpet.

Certainly the Cannes film market was tepid, described as “solid rather than spectacular” by Screen International. For the competition films, the consensus was that the festival was front-loaded with highlights – Ari Folman’s animated documentary Waltz With Bashir and Pablo Trapero’s women’s prison drama Lions’ Den.

Enthusiasm dampened during the middle of the festival and it was not until the final few days that critics found something to celebrate, with the rapturously received screening of The Class.

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