Inglorious Basterds
Michel Haneke's The White Ribbon scooped the top prize at this year's Cannes Film Festival in what was a vintage year for the event.
An impressive line up was unveiled for the In Competition category as the likes of Quentin Tarantino, Ang Lee and Pedro Almodóvar all went head to head for the prestigious Palme d'Or.
But it was British movie Fish Tank, directed by Andrea Arnold that was the early frontrunner for the gong as it gained rave reviews after it was screened.
The movie's lead actress, unknown Kate Jarvis, was also heavily praised for her performance as Mia in the movie and she too was an early contender for best actress.
So Charlotte Gainsbourg to walk away with the gong for her role in Antichrist did come as a bit of a surprise.
Another British movie that was under the spotlight at the festival was ken Loach's Looking for Eric as the filmmaker returned to Cannes which has brought him so much success in the past, winning the Plame d' Or for The Wind That Shakes the Barley.
Footballing legend Eric Cantona returned to the big screen for Loach's new movie and proved to be a hit when the film was screened last week.
It was week two when Hollywood came to town as Jim Carrey turned Cannes into a winter wonderland to promote him movie A Christmas Carol, released later this year.
But everyone was waiting for Quentin Tarantino and his Basterds to descend on the festival to premiere the maverick filmmaker's new movie Inglorious Basterds.
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie sauntered up the red carpet in true A-List fashion while the critics argued over whether Basterds was a Tarantino hit or miss.
The movie split Cannes; many believing that the movie was a piece of Tarantino genius while others thought otherwise. It has been fifteen years since he scooped the Palme d'Or for Pulp Fiction and looks like he is going to have to wait a little longer.
After the good reception that Inglorious Basterds got at the festival it looks set to go on and be a box office hit this summer.
Penelope Cruz reunited with Pedro Almodóvar for the first time since Volver for Broken Embraces and the Spanish actress brought some of that Hollywood glamour to the red carpet.
But this once successful partnership seemed to struggle in this movie as it was met with mediocre reviews.
But despite all of these great movies it was war movie The White Ribbon that clinched the top prize.
Directed by Michael Haneke, who brought us the awful Funny Games last year, but he returns to this form with this war movie.
2009 really has been about the movies while Hollywood descended on the festival it didn't dominate like it did last year with the likes of Kung Fu Panda and Indiana Jones.
Roll on next year!
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
Tagged in Cannes Film Festival