CANNES, France: Swedish satire "The Square", a send-up of political correctness and the confused identity of the modern male, won the Palme d´Or top prize at the Cannes film festival Sunday.
In a stunning upset, the nine-member jury led by Spanish director Pedro Almodovar and including Hollywood stars Jessica Chastain and Will Smith awarded the trophy to director Ruben Ostlund. It was the first-ever Swedish winner.
In a 70th edition marked by raging debate over sexism in the movie industry, Sofia Coppola became only the second woman in history to win best director for her battle-of-the-sexes drama "The Beguiled" with Nicole Kidman and Colin Farrell.
Kidman, who appeared in four different projects at the French Riviera festival, accepted a special anniversary award with a video message.
Three-time Oscar nominee Joaquin Phoenix nabbed best actor for his turn as a hammer-wielding hitman in "You Were Never Really Here".
Diane Kruger clinched best actress for her first film role in her native German as a devastated mother who has lost her husband and son in a neo-Nazi terror attack, in Fatih Akin´s "In the Fade".
Greece´s Yorgos Lantimos shared best screenplay prize with Ramsay for "The Killing of a Sacred Deer", an icy thriller set in a wealthy American suburb and also starring Kidman and Farrell.
The runner-up Grand Prix went to the hotly tipped French drama "120 Beats Per Minute" about the radical activists who helped shame the world into action on AIDS.
"Loveless" by Andrey Zvyagintsev, a wrenching drama about moral rot gnawing at Russian society under Vladimir Putin, took the third place jury prize.
"The Square" is an often savagely funny takedown of the limits of free speech and the blurred lines between the sexes.
Danish actor Claes Bang plays a museum director and divorced father of two young daughters who gets robbed in broad daylight in the city centre.
In the aftermath, he´s forced to check his privilege and liberal political beliefs against a reality that seldom mirrors the rarified world of high culture.
The title refers to a conceptual art project in which museum visitors are invited to enter a "sanctuary of trust and caring", a tiny utopia in the middle of a flawed society.
The movie features Elisabeth Moss ("Mad Men") and Dominic West ("The Wire") in small roles viciously lampooning the self-important art world.
One set-piece, featuring a wild, bare-chested man performing as an ape wreaking havoc at a posh gala dinner, immediately entered Cannes legend.