To the sound of the Spanish version of “Hotel California” by the Gipsy Kings, Joel and Ethan Coen took to the stage of the Lyon Lumière Festival on Friday evening to receive the Lumière Prize, celebrating four decades of cinema with a typically irreverent tribute to the inventors of cinema.
“Thanks to the Enlightenment for inventing the camera, otherwise we would have been screwed,” Ethan joked, drawing laughter from the audience.
The musical choice itself was a nod to the Coens’ cult comedy “The Big Lebowski,” starring John Turturro’s flamboyant bowler Jesus Quintana.
The star-studded gathering included Javier Bardem, Frances McDormand, former Lumière Award winner Wim Wenders, Robert Eggers, Michel Hazanavicius and Bérénice Bejo, Benoît Magimel, Antoine de Caunes and Caleb Deschanel, who came to town for a masterclass and the premiere of Laika’s upcoming stop-motion animated feature, “Wildwood.”
In accepting the award, Joel reflected on four decades of filmmaking with his brother. “We did it because we love cinema and storytelling,” he said. “We have, with a few exceptions, had nothing but fun making these films over the decades.”
Bardem, who won an Oscar for his chilling portrayal of Anton Chigurh in “No Country for Old Men,” delivered one of the evening’s most colorful tributes, recalling how he initially tried to turn down the role despite being a longtime admirer of the Coens.
“I sat down with them in New York in their office and said, ‘Look, I admire you, I worship you, you’re incredible, but I hate violence, I don’t drive, and I barely speak English. What am I doing here?'” Bardem recalled.
“They didn’t give me any reason to make the film. They were just laughing,” he said. “I was like, ‘I don’t know what this experience is going to be like, but I know it’s not going to be stressful. So yeah, let’s fucking do it.'”
Bardem also joked about his character’s famous haircut, which the Coens spotted in a 1960s photograph. “I was single at the time – it’s 2006 – and I said, ‘I’m going to be single until the day I finish.'”
Ethan had another story about Bardem taking on the role. The actor had decided that his character should be pale, he recalls, so during the largely outdoor filming, a young production assistant accompanied him on set, holding a light blue umbrella over his head. “And he wonders why we made fun of him,” Ethan joked.
The actor’s tribute took a more heartfelt turn as he reflected on what working with the brothers meant to him. “What they gave me was a masterpiece and the gift of a lifetime, personally and professionally,” Bardem said. “They made a dream come true. Ten years after I said it would never happen, it happened. And it was even better than I ever imagined.”
The evening was also marked by musical tributes, with French singer-songwriter Bénabar performing Charles Aznavour’s “Parce que tu Crois”, chosen by Joël Coen as his favorite song. Five-time Grammy winner Angélique Kidjo performed Jacques Brel’s “Ne me leave pas,” one of Bardem’s favorites.
Festival director Thierry Frémaux drew laughs by showing photographs of the Lumière brothers and Coen in remarkably similar poses, before reminding the filmmakers that, in keeping with festival tradition, they would have to shoot their own version of the first Lumières film, “The Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory,” on Saturday. After screening one of the original versions, he gave them until the next day to come up with their own version.
The tribute was also timely with the screening of Ettore Scola’s 1997 short film “1943-1997,” which follows a young Jewish boy fleeing a Nazi roundup in war-torn Rome and finding refuge in a movie theater. As five decades of Italian cinema unfold on screen, the boy grows older. The film ends in 1997 with a young African boy fleeing persecution in the same theater, drawing a parallel between past and present.
Bardem echoed the film’s message, emphasizing its relevance today. “Never again is never again for everyone, from Congo to Sudan to Palestine,” he said.
Joël also paid tribute to the Lyon community of film buffs and the festival’s commitment to the shared experience of cinema, saluting the public who always likes to “find themselves in a dark room with many other people and see it on the big screen”.
Since their feature debut with the neo-noir thriller “Blood Simple” in 1984, Joel and Ethan Coen have built one of the most distinctive filmographies in American cinema, ranging from the crime comedy “Raising Arizona,” to the cult favorite “The Big Lebowski,” to the Depression-era musical odyssey “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” and the Western anthology “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs.”
Their 2007 thriller, “No Country for Old Men,” won four Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor for Bardem, while “Fargo” earned the brothers their first Oscar for Original Screenplay in 1997.
Olivier CHASSIGNOLE
At Cannes, their remarkable journey began in 1991 when “Barton Fink” won the Palme d’Or, Best Director and Best Actor for John Turturro. They then won the best director prize for “Fargo” in 1996 and “The Man Who Wasn’t There” in 2001, while “Inside Llewyn Davis” won the Grand Prix in 2013. In 2015, they returned to the Croisette as presidents of the festival jury.
The honor awarded Friday makes Joel and Ethan the second duo of filmmakers to receive the Lumière Prize, after Belgian brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne in 2020. Previous winners include Clint Eastwood, Quentin Tarantino, Pedro Almodóvar, Martin Scorsese, Catherine Deneuve, Wong Kar-wai, Jane Fonda, Francis Ford Coppola, Jane Campion, Tim Burton, Wim Wenders, Isabelle Huppert and Michael Mann.
The Lumière Film Festival ends on Sunday.
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