Now that I’m back in the States it’s interesting to discover what’s still being discussed by the journalists back in Cannes is something that happened over a week ago, the premiere of Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu‘s Biutiful . It, along with Mike Leigh‘s film, Another Year, remain the films mentioned the most when talks of the Palme d’Or arise but Biutiful also has very vocal detractors. The coveted Palme is given on Sunday and I have a sneaking suspicion that The Housemaid, a Korean film from director Im Sang-Soo, will also be pulling in some of the awards as well.

Those three films, with the addition of Oliver Assayas’s Carlos, were the favorites among the critics I talked to. Other nods of approval went the simple but sweet Stephen Frears film, Tamara Drewe, Xavier Beauvois‘s Les Hommes et des Dieux, and Doug Liman‘s Fair Game.

Woody Allen and Oliver Stone were cited with having done the same, better, earlier in their careers. Numerous films, such as Takeshi Kitano‘s Outrage were cited as just being lousy.

Most of the buyers and sellers in the Marche told me they were leaving on Wednesday, avoiding the still lingering ash cloud, which squares with reports that the aisles are now empty.

But beyond the crazy antics of Lindsay Lohan (who missed a court date in America using the excuse that she lost her passport) Cannes seems to have ended with a whimper, not a bang. but leave it to this particular festival to pull out a surprise or two. I wouldn’t be surprised.

The empty red steps at the Cannes Palais