Cannes Festival's Biggest Lie? Those Standing Ovations

We have all seen headlines announcing that various movies or TV shows at the Cannes Film Festival received standing ovations of varying lengths.

And of course, given the prestigious reputation of a festival, it is obvious that the PR teams would use this to their advantage and paint the respective project as a "work of art that touched the hearts of the attendees."

In reality, however, even mediocre projects that are panned by both critics and general audiences upon official release receive standing ovations, creating quite a dissonance with the vivid picture painted before.

So what's the reason, do ovations at Cannes really mean something, or are they just a gesture of politeness?

Unfortunately, the second case seems to be the answer, as it has become more of a tradition for the festival than a show of real excitement, and it is perfectly illustrated by this year's situation in Cannes.

While it can be due to the outstanding quality of the film, as with Martin Scorsese 's Killers of the Flower Moon ( which, judging by early reviews, is actually quite good), which received a nine-minute ovation, it can also be due to the previous merits of the actor or director.

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny received a six-minute ovation, which seems more like a farewell to the now 80-year-old Harrison Ford, who has publicly announced that he will never return to the role of Indy, as the early reviews for the film leave much to be desired.

Furthermore, HBO's The Idol, which has been in the midst of controversy since the release of its debut episode due to the underwhelming quality of the show and the seemingly cheap use of the shock factor, received a five-minute ovation, perfectly illustrating the nature of the whole phenomenon.

Viewers aren't as impressed as they once were, as can be clearly seen in a Reddit thread about Indiana Jones, where users blatantly state that "you could show a video of paint drying and it would get a five minute standing ovation."

So perhaps marketing departments will soon realize that their system no longer works the way it should and stop using this annoying trope in their campaigns.

Sources: New York Post, Reddit