The Palme d’Or for the best film in competition at the Cannes film festival has gone to Anatomy of a Fall, directed by Justine Triet, who used her speech to criticise the government of Emmanuel Macron over its “shocking” suppression of pension protests. “The country suffered from historic protests over the reform of the pension system. These protests were denied … repressed in a shocking way,” she said. Macron has sparked the biggest demonstrations in a generation over reforms to the pension system, including raising the retirement age from 62 to 64. Addressing the audience of Hollywood and international film stars, directors, and other industry professionals, Triet also criticised the government’s cultural policies. “The commercialisation of culture that this neoliberal government supports is in the process of breaking France’s cultural exception, without which I wouldn’t be here today,” she said. The French culture minister, Rima Abdul Malak, said she was “gobsmacked” by Triet’s comments at one of the country’s most prominent events. “This film would not have seen the light of day without our French model of financing cinema, which allows a diversity that is unique in the world. Let’s not forget it,” she wrote on Twitter. Triet is the third female director to win the festival’s prestigious top prize, awarded by a team of judges led by last year’s winner – the director of The Triangle of Sadness, Ruben Östlund – and presented by Jane Fonda. “First time I came was 1963,” said Fonda as she prepared to gave the award to Trietat a sparkling closing ceremony for the annual film festival. “The festival was smaller then. There were no female directors competing at that time and it never even occurred to us that there was something wrong with that. We have come a long way, but we have a long way to go.” Seven female directors had films in competition this year, the Hollywood star added: “It is historic, but one day it will be normal.” Anatomy of a Fall, a gripping courtroom mystery starring German actor Sandra Hüller, is Triet’s second film to be selected to compete on the Cote D’Azur, after her dark comedy Sibyl. Hüller, who is best known for starring in Toni Erdmann, also starred in Cannes this year in another leading contender for the top prize, British director Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest. In Triet’s film she plays a writer forced to defend herself as the main suspect in her husband’s murder. Glazer did not walk away empty-handed, winning the Grand Prize for The Zone of Interest, his free adaptation of a Martin Amis novella that nightmarishly describes the domestic concerns of a Nazi family who lived in close proximity to Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland towards the end of the second world war. Accepting the award, he said: “This is an honour beyond my dreams. I want to honour the memory of Martin Amis and am so glad that I got to show the film to him.” Ken Loach – a festival favourite whose new film The Royal Oak premiered at the Palais at the end of the festival – was another British contender for the top prize. The best acting prize went to the Japanese acting legend Koji Yakusho, for his portrayal of a reticent, tree-loving Tokyo toilet cleaner in Wim Wenders’ film Perfect Days. Best actress went to Merve Dizdar, star of the Turkish drama About Dry Grasses from director Nuri Bilge Ceylan. Dizdar mesmerised many critics in her role as Nuray, a rural school teacher. “I would like to dedicate this prize to all the women who are fighting to overcome difficulties in this world, and to retain hope,” Dizdar said, as she accepted her prize. Presenting the special Jury Prize, British actor Orlando Bloom said that cinema’s value was the way it can bridge differences. He gave the prize to Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki for Fallen Leaves, starring Alma Pöysti as a supermarket clerk who leads a lonely existence until she meets a heavy-drinking construction worker who also seems adrift. Best director went to Trần Anh Hung for her film The Pot of Feu, which features French actors Juliette Binoche and Benoît Magimel, as a revered chef, as they fall in love in the kitchen.