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Moretti lauded throughout Italy Moretti, 57, won the Palme d'Or at the 54th Cannes festival on Sunday for "The Son's Room", a tragic story of a family torn apart by the death of a child. The director, who also stars in the film, had been nominated for the top prize three times before. "Nanni Moretti has won, Italian cinema has won", declared a front-page editorial in Rome daily La Repubblica. "It is a victory for all those in Italy who share Moretti's love for culture, intelligence, zeal and intellectual honesty." It is the first time Italy has won the coveted prize in 23 years, since it saw back-to-back victories with "Padre Padrone" and "The Tree of Wooden Clogs" in 1977 and '78. "Long live Moretti," announced Milan's Corriere della Sera. "Simplicity and profundity, sincerity and artistic maturity are what have made "The Son's Room" a point of reference in modern cinematography," wrote one of Italy's foremost film critics Tullio Kezich on the front page of Corriere. "This is resounding confirmation that the big screen can be a mirror on life...touching everyone's conscience." The papers declared Moretti's film, which received a six-minute standing ovation at the festival, a clear winner, even though the Cannes jury was split. The jury president, Norwegian actress and director Liv Ullman, told the closing ceremony that picking the winners had been tough and her panel had been divided on many issues. Moretti beat Austrian director Michael Haneke's controversial film about voyeurism and masochism, "The Piano Teacher", which picked up three prizes, including best actress for Isabelle Huppert. INTELLECTUAL CHAMP While newspaper critics had lauded Moretti and tipped him to win, the director, most famous for 1993's "Dear Diary", a personal film journal, never thought he would win. "Often there is no causal relationship between what the public likes and what the jury likes, so the fact that people said I was a favourite didn't reassure me in the least," he told reporters after the victory ceremony. Moretti's bearded, bespectacled and unusually beaming face was plastered across almost every Italian newspaper front page, his arms raised like a champion. But his reaction was restrained compared to fellow Italian director and actor Roberto Benigni who clambered over a stunned audience after winning the 1999 best foreign film Oscar for "Life is Beautiful". But then Benigni is known for extravagance and Moretti for nervous introspection. "'La Stanza del Figlio' ('The Son's Room') is a beautiful, serious, moving and admired film," wrote La Stampa, adding that it perfectly reflected the intellect of the man who made it. There was also a political element to Moretti's win. An outspoken member of the left, Moretti last week lamented the victory of the centre-right in Italy's general election. Rome's left-leaning La Repubblica said Moretti's win was some consolation after the left's political defeat. "I'm so happy for Nanni. His film is beautiful and profound and deserved to win," Walter Veltroni, a leading member of the left and candidate for mayor of Rome, told the paper.
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