Amour Wins Palme d'Or at Cannes

And the Palme d'Or goes to ... director Michael Haneke for his heartbreaking film, Love (Amour). The tragic story of an elderly couple facing the inevitability of death left Cannes Film Festival audiences in tears, Reuters reports. "A very, very big thanks to my actors who have made this film," said Haneke, who also won in 2009 for The White Ribbon. "It's their film. They are the essence of this film."

Critics sang nearly unanimous praise for Love: "Whatever his message, the spell of this incandescent film will be an elevating memory," wrote Mary Corliss in Time. "In the history of movies about love, Amour lasts forever." The runner-up Grand Prix award went to Reality, an examination of reality television and celebrity-obsessed culture. The third-place Jury Prize went to the charming Scottish caper, The Angels' Stare, and Carlos Reygadas won best director for Post Tenebras Lux, a dreamlike study of menace in Mexican society. (More Cannes Film Festival stories.)