Hitman film and AIDS drama tipped to win at Cannes

Cannes : The Cannes film festival ends Sunday with a movie about a hammer-wielding hitman, a rousing story of AIDS activists and a parable of Putin's Russia among the favourites to lift its top prize, the Palme d'Or. 

After 12 days of screenings and starry celebrations of the festival's 70th anniversary -- which were somewhat muted by the Manchester bombing -- it is now up to the nine-member celebrity jury led by Spanish director Pedro Almodovar to decide which movie will triumph.

The jury began its deliberations on Sunday morning, festival director Thierry Fremaux told AFP.

Rarely has the race looked so open, with many critics complaining there was no standout film to get behind among the 19 in the official competition.

That shifted Saturday when the final film, Lynne Ramsay's "You Were Never Really Here", had many reaching for superlatives.

Two critics told the Scottish director at a post-screening news conference that her film about a traumatised hitman who saves a young girl from a prostitution ring was a "masterpiece".

Its star Joaquin Phoenix was also being talked of as a contender for best actor.

If Ramsay were to win she would be only the second woman director ever to take home the Palme d'Or.

New Zealander Jane Campion won for "The Piano" in 1993. But as Hollywood star Salma Hayek pointed out Tuesday in Cannes, Campion "only got half the Palme d'Or, not even a full one", having to share it with Chinese director Chen Kaige for "Farewell My Concubine".