At Cannes, in addition to reviews and star ratings, praise comes in units of time. Every year, there are headlines announcing 7- or 9-minute standing ovations as crowds applaud movies for minutes on end. Over time, this has become a Cannes tradition, with spectators these days in on records for the longest ovations in festival history.
El Laberinto Del Fauno
The most recorded ovation in the history of Cannes was in 2006. Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro opened his dark fantasy Pan’s Labyrinth (El laberinto del fauno), a haunting story of a child’s fantasy flight from the atrocities of World War II. Filmed on a low budget of $14 million, the film had an unprecedented 22-minute ovation at its opening.
In an interview with GQ in 2015, del Toro discussed that moment of surrealism. “It’s hard to say what it is, to last that long, because the first three, four minutes, you’re submerged in a kind of state of acceptance and happiness. Ten minutes in, you don’t know what to do,” he stated. “You’re just smiling and nodding. And right in the middle of all that, Alfonso Cuarón, who was standing beside me, gave me a big pat on the back and said, ‘Let yourself be loved, man.’ And then I just let myself go for that ovation, and it lasted the entire 22 minutes. And it was only when they opened the doors of the Palais to allow people to exit, that it began to subside.”
A Commercial Sensation
Pan’s Labyrinth, featuring Ivana Baquero, Sergi López, Maribel Verdú, Doug Jones, and Ariadna Gil, wasn’t only a critical darling, it was also a box office hit. It generated $84 million worldwide, easily exceeding its budget. It also did incredibly well in home entertainment, grossing $55 million from DVD sales in the United States alone. Its three awards were Oscars, and in 2010, Metacritic named it “the best reviewed film of the decade.” The film regularly shows up on lists of the top films of all time.
Clapping: A Cannes Tradition
What started out as spontaneous admiration in Cannes has now become ritual. Long periods of applause have become de rigueur, sometimes even satirical. Others decry it has become pageantry, and some liken the drawn-out ovations to herding or competitive applause. One festival-goer once joked: “Do you want to cease clapping before Christopher Nolan does?” pointing to the peer pressure that keeps the ovation going, more often for show than for genuineness.
Up to now, Cannes 2025 has had a pretty subdued record of nine minutes. Apparently, this year’s festival still has not presented a film worthy of another marathon round of applause.
