In fading light

Joan Rivers. Photo / Supplied

It had to happen. Despite my valiant attempts at scrupulous hygiene, which included opening the dunny doors at the Civic with my foot and waiting for someone else to come in so I could go out without touching the door handle - I've been struck with a nasty head cold since Friday night.

It is nothing compared to the full doses of nasty seasonal illness that have struck me in festivals past. But it kept me away from the Saturday evening screening of Lourdes, which I had been looking forward to and now I have only the wonderful Claire Denis' White Material to look forward to before I return to something resembling normal life.

The festival organisers must have been cursing some of the unseasonably beautiful weather that has afflicted them: in the movie business, a lovely day is dark and cold and grim, though not raining so heavily that people are discouraged from venturing out at all.

But attendances have been encouraging - an important factor for an event which is not underwritten and, in the last couple of years, has wanted even for a naming rights sponsor.

On the festival's final day, it's tempting to mention my personal favourites, though it's something of a nonsense, really: I've seen 39 of a programme whose total number of films I cannot be bothered counting but which, I am sure, is more than three times that. But there have been some special moments.

Best documentary: Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work: This jawdropping biographical portrait was the first film in the programme I saw, on a DVD screener in May. By turns toe-curlingly hilarious and deeply sad, it was a raw image of the desperation that so often underlies creativity. I sat next to an elderly blue-rinsed matron at another screening and asked her what her favourite film had been. She singled out this "disturbing" film and added "It's important, I think, for films to be disturbing". I could have hugged her.

Close runner-up: Exit Through the Gift Shop, but if I told you why this Banksy film which was simultaneously not about Banksy and all about Banksy I would spoil it for you. If you missed it, don't make the same mistake when it returns.

Best feature: A Prophet: I actually saw this almost a year ago but it remains seared on my retina. Fortunately for those who missed it, it returns in September and my interview with the director, Jacques Audiard, will run in TimeOut.

Close runner-up: Poetry: The sublime Korean film which won the best screenplay award at Cannes should have been in the slow cinema section, probably, since it unfolded at such a contemplative pace, but as an exploration of character, abetted by a spellbinding performance by its sexagenarian star, it was a knockout.

Disappointments: The Tree, an Australian set, Oz-French co-pro never really knew what to do with the ideas that it came up with, Charlotte Gainsbourg was intensely irritating and girlish, and only the enchanting Morgana Davies as the child lead seemed to have the measure of her role.

Babies: No doubt this appealed to the hormonally engorged and Anne Geddes fans, but other people's babies are as interesting as other people's holiday snaps. Which is to say not at all.

Final note: Claire Denis' White Material, seen late Sunday afternoon, certainly belongs in my top few films of this fest. The French-born, Africa-raised director's exploration of the intractable state of black-white relations in post-colonial reaches its zenith here in an intensely poetic, allusive and deeply moving drama. What a great way to sign off.

I'd love to hear about your hits and misses. Meantime, if you're not going to be at the Denis this afternoon, I might see you next year. If you are, I'll be the sniffing one. Cheers.