Terrence Malick was awarded the top Cannes prize, the Palme d’Or, for The Tree of Life yesterday by US actor and Jury president Robert De Niro at the star-studded gala ceremony on the French Riviera.

The Tree of Life tells the story of a tyrannical father in Texas and the origin of life.

Producers Bill Pohlad and Dede Gardner received the prize on behalf of Mr Malick.

Meanwhile, French director and actress Maiwenn Le Besco won the Jury Prize for Poliss, a gritty drama about a tightly-bound but highly-strung Parisian child protection unit.

Ms Le Bosco, who also plays a documentary photographer in the film, called the cast and producer on stage to receive the prize.

“I promised my daughter not to cry when I received the prize,” a tearful Maiwenn said.

Israeli film-maker Joseph Cedar won the best screenplay prize for Footnote about the rivalry between a father-son pair of Talmudic scholars.

Mr Cedar, 42, who won an Oscar nomination for his 2007 film Beaufort about the Israeli army’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon, was not in town to accept the prize.

Jean Dujardin won the Cannes best actor award for The Artist while US actress Kirsten Dunst was awarded with the Prix de l’Interpretation Feminine (best actress) with the film Melancholia.

Denmark’s Nicolas Winding Refn won the Prix de la Mise en Scene (best director) for Drive.

Belgium’s Dardenne brothers and Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan shared the runner-up Grand Prix prize for The Kid With A Bike and Once Upon A Time in Anatolia.

Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne had hoped for a record third Palme d’Or.