2003 was not a vintage year for the Cannes Film Festival: Gus van Sant's impressive but unlovable "Elephant" was a surprise winner of both the Palme d'Or and the Best Director prizes, while Nuri Bilge Ceylan's "Uzak" and Denys Arcand's "The Barbarian Invasions" further showed up the leanness of the field by also taking two awards apiece. How, then, did the jury fail to reward one of the few films to generate genuine critical heat on the Croisette that year? Lars von Trier had won the Palme three years previously for another brazen, brilliant provocation, "Dancer in the Dark," so perhaps the jury felt inclined to teach him a little humility. But passing over Nicole Kidman's startling performance in favor of Marie-Josee Croze's minor supporting turn in "Invasions" was perhaps taking the lesson a little far.