At Cannes, long ovations grab attention - but do they mean anything?

Cannes standing ovations are once again sparking debate, with “The Black Ball” reportedly earning up to 20 minutes of applause ahead of the Palme d'Or announcement. Critics, however, question whether lengthy ovations truly reflect a film’s quality or are simply part of the festival’s theatrical tradition.

Rollo Ross and Miranda Murray/Reuters

23 May 2026 at 06:51:34

At Cannes, long ovations grab attention - but do they mean anything?

Director Valeska Grisebach , cast members Yana Radeva, Stoycho Kostadinov, Syuleyman Alilov Letifov and team pose on the red carpet during arrivals for the screening of the film "Das Getraumte Abenteuer" (The Dreamed Adventure - L'Aventure revee) in competition at the 79th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France, May 22, 2026.

Sarah Meyssonnier/Reuters

The duration of a Cannes Film Festival standing ovation is often reported as a spot test on how good a film is, but film critics and journalists question whether the measure holds any merit.

Entertainment outlet Deadline reported that this year's Spanish competition entry, "The Black Ball," received a 20-minute ovation on Thursday night, just two minutes shy of Guillermo del Toro's 22-minute record with "Pan's Labyrinth" two decades ago.

Whether that long ovation predicted success at Cannes will be revealed on Saturday evening, when the jury hands out the Palme d'Or top prize to one of 22 films in the competition.

OVATIONS OF SOME USE?

"It's got all the ingredients for a long ovation," Deadline awards editor Damon Wise said about "The Black Ball," a 135-minute saga about the Spanish Civil War and gay representation in history.

"As the applause is drowning, going down, going down, going down, you cut to Penelope Cruz and the applause comes back," said Wise.

He added that last year's second-place Cannes winner "Sentimental Value," which went on to win best international feature at the Oscars, had a similar kind of ovation.

"I do think they (the ovations) do have their use," he said.

"Pan's Labyrinth" failed to win anything at Cannes but won three Oscars, for cinematography, art direction and makeup.

However, a lot of them are "performative," he said, citing how Danish film maker Nicolas Winding Refn actively encouraged the audience to keep going at his dark fable "Her Private Hell."

TIMES MAY VARY

Adding to the doubt is that standing ovation times vary from publication to publication, with Variety reporting that "The Black Ball" ovation was only 16 minutes.

"I'm not sure it really is a measure of a great film," said Anna Smith, film critic and host of the "Girls on Film" podcast.

Smith said that the standing ovations start as a way of being polite but then can quickly go out of control.

"Often I've enthusiastically joined in. But there is a moment where it does start to taper out a bit, and then someone will start up again. Then everyone sort of thinks, 'Oh, OK, maybe I should join in'," she said.

-Rollo Ross and Miranda Murray/Reuters