American beauty Rooney Mara won best actress Sunday at a Cannes Film Festival awards ceremony packed with surprises.
The Cannes jury, led by Joel and Ethan Coen, split the prize for best actress between Mara — who was not in Cannes to accept the award for her role in “Carol,” a 1950s-set lesbian drama — and French actress Emmanuelle Bercot.
Bercot, who also directed the festival’s opener, “Standing Tall,” was honored for her role in a the marital drama “My King.”
This year’s pinnacle award, the Palme d’Or, went to a dark-horse choice, “Dheepan,” a topical story of Sri Lankan refugees trying to flee their war-torn country for France, by French director Jacques Audiard.
“We all thought it was a very beautiful movie,” jury leader Ethan Coen told reporters. ‘’Everyone had some high level of excitement and enthusiasm for it.”
Audiard had previously received the Grand Prix, which goes to the festival’s runner-up, for his film “A Prophet” in 2009.
This year’s Grand Prix went to the harrowing Holocaust film “Son of Saul” by debut Hungarian filmmaker László Nemes.