Tilda Swinton Says Fahrenheit 9/11's Palme d'Or Win Was a 'Political Choice'

Tilda Swinton attended Cannes despite having no projects to promote. She wore a striped dress and discussed her long-running promise to do an interview in French, saying she is Scottish and European and should learn French. She offered reflections on cinema in crisis, arguing that counting numbers matters but should not be the focus, because cinema has always been in flux. She described how COVID led people back to films and books, and she revisited Michael Powell’s autobiography. She said the arrival of sound, color, television, video, DVDs, and streaming was treated as the “death of cinema,” implying that such claims repeat over time.

"Swinton had some sage words to offer about the idea that cinema is in crisi: “I think this game of counting numbers, obviously it's important, but the rest of us should give it a rest. The truth is, it's not about the numbers. Cinema was always in flux. That's the nature of what cinema is.” She launched into a soothing tale: “I remember when COVID struck us all down and into our own houses and we all reached for our own films and books, and I reached once again for the autobiography of Michael Powell, who was born pretty much the same year as cinema and came up through the growth of silent cinema.”"

"After a career montage that prominently featured the clip from Orlando in which Orlando explains that English people "don't like learning other languages" and instead of speaking in a foreign tongue will "just speak English louder," moderator Didier Allouch said Swinton promised him that next time they'd do their interview in French. "I've been saying that to you for about 20 years," she said. "One day, I will be speaking French. I'm not English, but Scottish, and we're Europeans, so it's time I learned French." Everyone applauded."

"Why was Swinton at Cannes, despite having no projects to promote? I don't know and it's none of my business. She wore a striped dress and her hair was poufed a bit up top. After a career montage that prominently featured the clip from Orlando in which Orlando explains that English people "don't like learning other languages" and instead of speaking in a foreign tongue will "just speak English louder," moderator Didier Allouch said Swinton promised him that next time they'd do their interview in French."

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