10 Films Booed At Cannes That Went On To Win Many Awards

One thing that is particularly unusual about Only God Forgives is how it was not divisive at all. Most people, audience and critic alike, very much disliked this film.

One theory is that the pairing once more of Winding Refn and Ryan Gosling, in a violent film so soon after Drive that was so different from Drive and so much more experimental was what hurt Only God Forgives.

It could also be that the film was just not good. That it aspired to do something that had not been done before is not in doubt. That it is very heavily flawed is also not in doubt. Even so, this wonderfully visceral film did still perform remarkably well on the awards circuit.

Either way, the Refn-Gosling partnership seems to have done things the wrong way round, leading with their better work first and not following up with a film of similar or better quality. Will we see them at work together soon?

Notable Accolades:

Admittedly most of the awards for Only God Forgives were from smaller film festivals. It was completely snubbed in fact from any of the major awards, most likely on account of the extremity of both the violence and Kristin Scott Thomas’s potty mouth. The most notable was best film at the Sydney film festival.