Nothing is certain where Cannes juries are concerned. But a Korean actress called Jeon Do-yeon is hot favourite for the best actress award for her performance in Lee Chang-dong's excellent film about a mother whose only child is kidnapped and murdered.
The fact that Lee happens to be South Korea's minister of culture has nothing to do with the film's success. Jeon is quite remarkable as the stricken mother who turns to happy-clappy Protestantism in her misery, becomes deeply religious and decides to visit the now-imprisoned murderer to forgive him.
The killer thanks her but says he too has become close to God, who has already forgiven him. This sends the mother into a deep depression akin almost to madness.
Jeon's panic when her little boy is kidnapped, her disbelief that he can have been mercilessly killed and her fury when her forgiveness seems futile are portrayed with a simple and devastating power. And she is well supported by Song Kang-ho, South Korea's leading star, as the mild-mannered man who falls for her and tries to help.
The film has several different levels and is an almost Bressonian study in human suffering and its consequences. Not many others in the competition can measure up to it.
Secret Sunshine
