Haneke in Cannes good company

So, as virtually everyone predicted, Michael Haneke won the Palme d’Or at Cannes for the eviscerating Amour. “I’m very happy not to be here alone, but to be here with my friends, my actors,” Haneke said. “So I’m not quite so intimidated by this room.”

Oh, come along. He can’t be that intimidated. The Austrian is now among seven directing units (we use that construction to accommodate the Dardenne brothers) to have won the top prize on two occasions. It’s a weird bunch. Bergman, Fellini and Godard are all absent. But Bille August, Emir Kusturica and Alf Sjöberg do make the grade. Francis Ford Coppola won for The Conversation and Apocalypse Now. Shohei Imamura triumphed for The Eel and The Ballad of Narayama. Go figure.