Why Cannes Film Festival Standing Ovations Have Become Absurd and Overrated

Once upon a time, the essential tools for a reporter or critic covering a premiere at the Cannes Film Festival were a notebook and a pen. These days, though, there’s a necessary but regrettable addition to the list: the stopwatch app on an iPhone. It’s all because of those damn standing ovations.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with a Cannes premiere audience lavishing applause on the directors, writers, and casts of praiseworthy films. But marathon standing ovations have become de rigueur in the Grand Auditorium Lumière, turning into a ritual every bit as annoying as the red-carpet selfies that the festival tried to ban many years ago.

It’s gotten to the point where a four-minute standing ovation is a sign of weakness; if members of the audience aren’t on their feet for at least five or six minutes, the knee-jerk conclusion is that they didn’t really love the movie they’d just seen.

Media’s Role in Fueling the Obsession

For the most part, the media is at fault. It’s almost laughable, sitting in one of the press rows in Lumière and watching fellow reporters whip out their phones and start their timers as soon as a movie ends, gathering intel that’s of questionable significance beyond the inevitable stories:

• “Joaquin Phoenix Tears Up During 5-Minute Cannes Standing Ovation for MAGA Western ‘Eddington,’”
• “Richard Linklater’s ‘Nouvelle Vague’ Receives Electric 10-Minute Plus Cannes Standing Ovation,”
• “Megalopolis Debuts at Cannes With 7-Minute Standing Ovation…”

It’s not news, it’s silly cinephile clickbait, but it creates an atmosphere in the theater that leaves accomplished filmmakers feeling awkward.

Filmmakers Speak Out Against the Absurdity

The problem was, I was standing there saying thank you and all this bull—, and thinking, Why are we getting that response? Was it because it’s a really good film, or was it about my endurance? I was only interested in: Did they like the film? That’s what I wanted to know. But I had to stand there and smile, and then wave, and then turn to the cast… I just made a fool of myself. It was absurd.

— Director Terry Gilliam, reflecting on the 15-minute-plus Cannes ovation following the 2018 premiere of The Man Who Killed Don Quixote

The Inconsistency and Subjectivity of Timing

It’s absurd on a number of levels. First, outlets never actually agree on how long an ovation lasts; one publication might say seven minutes, another says 10. In a way, that’s because it’s hard to figure out exactly when the ovations begin and when they end.

Typically, applause starts when the credits roll, often tapering off as the credits continue before turning into a full-fledged standing ovation when the lights come on. The reactions of the director and cast, who are all sitting in the same row in the orchestra, are shown on the big screen in the theater; this causes another surge in applause and often prompts the audience to see how long it can keep the ruckus going.