I spent most of yesterday in the Marche talking to international film commissions so I was secretly happy when I heard numerous critics says that Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu‘s Biutiful was an unyielding, demoralizing mess; it meant I hadn’t missed anything. Then the other side was heard with just as many people on the other side of the fence defending the work as a masterpiece. The movie has clearly divided the audience so I can’t wait to see it myself.

I’m unable to muster equal passion for Les Hommes et des Dieux, a film by Xavier Beauvois (Le Petit Lieutenant) that strives for greatness but falls short of glory.  Lambert Wilson stars as Christian, the leader of monastery in the mountains of Maghreb. When violent Muslim extremists begin to attack the locals the eight brothers of the order must decide if they will flee for their lives or resolve to stay. It’s a slowly paced, meditative piece that asks a little much of its audience at two hours though it provides some satisfying and redemptive scenes.

The same could also be said for the new documentary Cameraman about Jack Cardiff which recounts the life and work of one of the world’s great cinematographers. Cardiff was the lenser on the great films of the Archers, Michael Powell and  Emeric Pressburger, including Black Narcissus and The Red Shoes. A little too elegiac it doesn’t give much in the way of new revelations or insights, though the stroll back through Cardiff’s great works is enjoyable. Martin Scorsese, Lauren Bacall and Kirk Douglas are interviewed.

People are starting to head home, including me. It’s sad to leave as this 63rd Cannes, filled with the usual drama, but also suffused with life and energy, it’s been a memorable experience. Cannes makes you step back and revisit the idea of cinema. Cannes allows cinema to reinvent itself even as movies reinvent Cannes; it remains the crown jewel of the film year.