The 2025 Cannes Film Festival Standing-O-Meter

Once again, it’s time to Moneyball Da Movies. That’s right, festival season means one thing and one thing only: measuring the standing ovations each film gets and then using that as data point No. 1 in building your MFL team come September. All the trades “count those claps” (in the words of Deadline), because as we all know, more applause = better movie. Last year, the most clapped film of Cannes was The Substance, which got 11 minutes of ovation. That did actually correlate to beaucoup noms and wins for the Mubi original throughout awards season (though Demi Moore wound up losing out on the most anticipated statuette).

Just like we did last year at Venice, we are taking averages on the timing for these O’s. Usually, Variety tends to be a little stingier than The Hollywood Reporter, while Deadline almost-always claims the longest period. Wanna see our math? Too bad! But please trust, math has been done. Below, the longest standing ovations at Cannes 2025, ranked from lowest 2 highest.

Shia LaBeouf’s controversial doc Slauson Rec becomes the shortest applause at 2 minutes

A documentary about LaBeouf’s weird community-theater experiment only scored a two-minute standing ovation, despite reports of people leaving the theater. It’s not every day that a directorial debut gets added to the festival last-minute, but hey, it’s something.

Sound of Falling only heard the sound of clapping for ~4 minutes

Vulture is calling Sound of Falling potentially the best film of the festival, but you wouldn’t know it from the standing ovation. This is the second film from writer-director Mascha Schilinski. Maybe she’ll get longer O’s the longer she’s at it.

Leave One Day stays for 5 minutes

Amélie Bonnin’s Leave One Day received a sensible five minutes of ovation, according to Deadline. The film, a romantic musical about a chef, became the first debut feature to ever open the festival on May 13.

Urchin earns 5 minutes

Urchin, Harris Dickinson’s first time in the director’s seat, scored a five-minute long applause break, per Variety, which also reported that among the clappers was future Dickinson-co-star Paul Mescal. They’ll be playing Lennon and McCartney in the upcoming Beatles biopics directed by Sam Mendes.

The Chronology of Water was flooded with applause for 5 minutes

For Kristen Stewart’s directorial debut, Deadline’s stopwatch once again seems to be ticking at a different speed. The outlet remembers six-and-a-half minutes of clapping after the film, while Variety and THR’s estimates both clocked in at closer to four minutes.

Eleanor the Great gets a good 5.5 minutes

Scarlett Johansson’s directorial debut, Eleanor the Great, was greeted by “raucous cheers and quite a few tears,” per THR, which did not report on the length of the cheering. Luckily, Deadline and Variety reported six- and five-minute-long ovations, respectively.

Eddington enjoyed ~5.67 minutes

Vulture critic Alison Willmore found Ari Aster’s latest film to be “bracingly nasty and unsure of what it’s trying to say.” Perhaps that explains why The Hollywood Reporter describes a five-minute standing ovation as “somewhat muted,” while Variety reported that some people actually left the film early. But according to Deadline, others were already clapping during the credits, and “nearly” seven minutes of applause were enough to get star Joaquin Phoenix to tear up.

Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning: a stuntacular 5.8 minutes

The big three trades’ clap count on Tom Cruise’s farewell to Ethan Hunt shows exactly why we take an average for our ranking. Deadline claims folks were on their feet for FR for 7.5 minutes, while THR says it wasn’t even five. But both agree that people were whooping it up during the screening.

Highest 2 Lowest is somewhere in the middle

After being surprised with an honorary Palme D’or at Cannes, the Denzel Washington and Spike Lee joint earned a six-minute standing ovation, per Deadline.

The Phoenician Scheme’s math mathed out to a 7-minute O

Of any film at Cannes, averaging the ovation counts for The Phoenician Scheme makes the most sense. The film is basically about math (also maybe Trump?). Variety said 6.5 minutes, THR had six, and Deadline was generous with 7.5. It all averages out to seven minutes of ovation for Wes Anderson’s latest.

Die My Love’s 7-min applause break wouldn’t die

Lynne Ramsay’s latest had one of the longer ovations at Cannes thus far, and it also was the first film acquired at the fest. Congrats to Mubi on its latest jewel from the Croisette.

Splitsville? More like Cheersville.

The open-marriage comedy starring Dakota Johnson earned a seven-minute average standing ovation, with Variety reporting six minutes and Deadline reporting eight minutes.

Pillion: 7.3 minutes and a smooch or two

Director Harry Lighton said he wanted his BDSM film Pillion “to make you laugh, make you think, make you feel and make you horny.” People got horny enough to give the film over seven minutes of O, during which Alexander Skarsgård and Pedro Pascal kissed. Love wins!

The History of Sound: a noisy 7.5 minutes

The History of which Sound, you ask? Clapping! The Josh O’Connor–Paul Mescal WWI romance got between six and nine minutes of ovation, depending on whether you ask Variety or Deadline.

Nouvelle Vague averages out to 9 minutes

The trades could not agree on how long audiences applauded for Richard Linklater’s love letter to the French New Wave, Nouvelle Vague. Variety reported the applause at just 6.5 minutes — a 4.5-minute difference from Deadline’s 11-minute claim. THR settled in between, calling it a ten-minute ovation. Weren’t you guys in the same room?

Vie Privée scores 9 minutes

Jodie Foster’s first time leading a French-language film, Vie Privée (A Private Life), was directed by Rebecca Zlotowski and received about nine minutes of applause: Variety called it eight, and the Times of India called it ten.

It Was Just an Accident got 9 intentional minutes

Iranian director Jafar Panahi’s first movie since being released from prison a second time, It Was Just an Accident, averaged out to nine minutes of ovation. Variety reported it at eight minutes, while Deadline gave it ten.

Alpha led for about 11 minutes

Julia Ducournau’s Titane follow-up, Alpha, received massive support from her home team, the French. Deadline estimated the applause at 12 minutes, while THR took the under with 11, and Variety sat in the middle ground at 11.5, averaging out to 11.5 total. Félicitations!

Sentimental Value breaks this year’s record

Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value received the longest standing ovation of the festival. Deadline reported the film got a whopping 19-minute O, while Variety and THR both dialed it back a little with 15 minutes. While those are both pretty extreme numbers, and certainly the highest of 2025, the longest ovation ever recorded remains the applause for Guillermo Del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth in 2006, which scored 22 minutes of clapping, per Variety. Trier needed some more creepy little guys.