To fully experience the Cannes Film Festival, you can’t merely read about it. You have to watch Mr. Bean’s Holiday, too. Seriously, folks, the media maelstrom of Cannes is wild, and this fest is particularly known for wildin’ out in one particular way: weirdly long standing ovations. (Also booing, but we’re focusing on the positive right now.) Some think it’s a fun tradition and a nice way for filmmakers to get their flowers before they die. Others feel the standing-ovation observation industry is “total bullshit.†Be that as it may, clocking the standing O’s for Cannes premieres has become a pastime of cinephiles, and it’s on its way to becoming one more stat to throw into the Cinematrix. According to IndieWire, the longest ovation to date was a staggering 22 minutes for Pan’s Labyrinth. How will this year’s offerings fare? We’ve ranked the recorded ovations, shortest to longest, including the latest. And because the trades can’t seem to agree on how long any of these standing O’s really run, we’ve calculated the mean average of reported ovations, or MORA (TM! TM!) for each film, with the latest entry, Parthenope. Cannes you believe it?
The Apprentice: about 9.5 Minutes
Someone might be demanding a pointless recount. Variety reported that the Trump biopic earned an 8-minute standing ovation, while Deadline quotes an 11-minute one. ET shared that it was closer to 10 minutes, which is probably a better estimate considering the 3 minute differences between other outlets.
The Second Act: a “robotic†3.5 Minutes
On Twitter, Variety’s resident standing ovalogist Ramin Setoodeh clocked the standing O for The Second Act (a French comedy about AI invading film) at a “robotic†3.5 minutes. This is the colorful commentary we need! Did it feel perfunctory, or were people trying to flip their seats in a frenzy of cinephilia?
Oh, Canada: 3.5 Minutes
More like “Standing O, Canada.†Paul Shrader’s Oh, Canada earned a standing ovation clocking in at 4 minutes, according to Variety, and bringing the director to tears. The film, which stars Richard Gere, Jacob Elordi, and Uma Thurman, tells the story of a writer reflecting on his decision to avoid the Vietnam War draft by fleeing to Canada, with Gere and Elordi playing the older and younger versions of said writer. The Hollywood Reporter clocked it in only slightly under 4 minutes, but noted that the film was met “with only polite applause and a perfunctory standing ovation.†Brutal.
Rumours: 5 Minutes
All the Rumours are true: the Cate Blanchett-led film, from directors Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson, and Galen Johnson, earned a standing O that came in somewhere between the 4 minute and 6 minute mark, depending on if you’re going by Variety or Deadline’s stopwatch. The dark comedy about a group of world leaders getting lost in the woods at the G7 also stars Alicia Vikander, Roy Dupuis, and Charles Dance.
Kinds of Kindness: 5.5 Minutes
Yorgos Lanthimos’s latest netted a paltry 4.5-minute clap-athon on May 17, per Variety, which we can only describe as a kind of unkindness when compared to its competitors’ stronger showings. Either audiences’ vocal cords are completely exhausted from this week’s ovations, or the film’s sex and cannibalism and weirdo curiosities featuring Emma Stone made them want to exit the Palais as quickly as possible. Lanthimos, for his part, literally ducked out. On Twitter, Washington Post reporter Jada Yuan clarified that the O ended six minutes after the movie, but people stopped clapping during the credits.
The Surfer: 6 Minutes
Forget a standing ovation, the audience for The Surfer should have stuck to theme and done the wave. The Nicolas Cage-led film enjoyed a 6 minute standing ovation, according to Variety, which was complemented by Cage grabbing the mic and shouting “mangez le rat,†French for “eat the rat,†which is a line in the film.
Furiosa: 7 Minutes
Furiosa was where the girls (the trades) started fighting. Deadline, Variety, and The Hollywood Reporter all gave different times for the length of Furiosa’s ovation. According to Deadline, George Miller’s epic prequel got “nearly 8.†Setoodeh put the ovation at a mere six minutes. And THR split the diff at seven minutes. So what is the truth?
Megalopolis: 8 Minutes
Francis Ford Coppola’s batshit opus received either a 7-minute ovation (per Deadline and Variety) or a whopping 10 minutes of clapping (according to THR). How much of that applause was for the sheer audacity of having a guy in the audience ask a question of Adam Driver in the movie, then having Driver-in-movie respond? As unclear as the timing of this ovation. The MORA score on this one is a tidy 8 minutes.
Bird: 9 Minutes
One of the longest reported standing ovations was attributed to Andrea Arnold’s Bird, starring the formerly self-described “little freak man-child†Barry Keoghan and Passages chaos agent Franz Rogowski. According to Deadline, the “enthusiastic†ovation lasted “in excess of 11 minutes,†while The Hollywood Reporter says it went on for a mere seven. Or, in pop terms, a little more than a doubleshot of “Espresso.†Which gives a total MORA of 9 min.
Horizon: An American Saga: 9.5 Minutes
Yee haw! Kevin Costner’s Western epic, Horizon: An American Saga, earned a seven-minute standing ovation according to Variety. However, People and THR both reported 10 minutes, while Deadline amped it up to a whopping 11-min O. The reception brought Costner, who starred, produced, co-wrote, and helped finance the film, to tears as he promised the audience at least three sequels. What is this, Pixar? But the film’s more than three-hour runtime might have been an issue for some, with Variety noting that there were “scores of walkouts†— but to be fair that’s a long time to go without a bathroom break.
Emilia Pérez: 10 Minutes
Jacques Audiard’s Spanish-language musical Emilia Pérez, starring Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez and Karla SofÃa Gascón, earned the longest standing ovation of the festival thus far. According to Variety, it clocked in at 9 minutes, while Deadline reports that it was more than 11 minutes. That discrepancy is likely on account of Audiard interrupting the ovation to thank the audience, with Deadline reporting that the applause quickly resumed for at least two more minutes.
The Substance: 11 Minutes
THR clocked the Demi Moore/Margaret Qualley body horror film getting a 9-minute O. This outperforms Qualley’s other Cannes proj, Kinds of Kindness by at least 3 minutes. But if you believe Deadline, the film got 13 minutes of gorgeous, gorgeous applause. The film is reportedly one of the more “out there†films to premiere at Cannes since Titane. Apparently 2024 is the time for freaky shit. “Gimme Demi Moore, gimme Moore!†cried the Croisette.
Anora: 8.75 Minutes
Sean Baker’s Anora, which stars Mikey Madison as a Brooklyn stripper who marries the son of a Russian oligarch, received a 7.5-minute standing O, according to Variety. The outlet also noted that the audience cheered several times during the film itself. Maybe Deadline was accounting for all of that extra applause with its much-higher estimate of 10 minutes? Ultimately, Anora got a MORA of 8.75 minutes.
Parthenope: 9.25 Minutes
The stopwatches were a little more in sync for this one. Deadline reported that Paolo Sorrentino’s movie got 9 minutes of applause, while Variety recorded 9.5 minutes. Either way, it was reportedly enough for an emotional Sorrentino to hug his cast, including Gary Oldman, a tearful Celeste Dalla Porta, and Stefania Sandrelli. Apparently 9(ish) minutes was up to par.
This story has been updated.