Cannes juror Nicole Kidman said she would judge the winner of the Film Festival based on the “purity of the motivations behind the filmmaking,” as the festival closed with plenty of buzz around a three-hour teenaged lesbian love story.
In an interview with a festival official on Saturday, hours before she and fellow jurors Steven Spielberg, Ang Lee, Lynne Ramsay and others were to begin deliberations, Kidman said:
“I’m such a lover of film. I’m quite broad in what I consider to be good because I know what it takes to make a film and I know the motivations – when they’re pure I can tell. I'll be judging on the purity of the motivations behind the filmmaking.”
She added: “I’m trying to go in very blank, so I’m impartial. I’m just glad I can give back to the festival in this way.”
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The race for the Palme d’Or seems to have come down to a handful of films, including “The Past,” by Iranian director Asghar Farhadi and “Inside Llewyn Davis” by Joel and Ethan Coen.
But in the last two days much attention has been focused on “Blue is the Warmest Color,” Abdellatif Kechiche’s three-hour coming-of-age drama about a teenage girl in a lesbian relationship, which was named the best film in the main competition at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival by the Fipresci International Federation of Film Critics.
The film, titled “La Vie D’Adele – Chapitre 1 & 2” in French, received widespread attention for its lengthy, graphic sex scenes, but it also took many critics by surprise and became one of the best-reviewed films of the festival.
Read also: Lesbian Coming-of-Age Story 'Blue Is the Warmest Color' Wins Fipresci Prize
The jury led by Spielberg will convene at a hillside villa to deliberate Sunday ahead of a gala awards ceremony.
