The 25th annual Cannes Film Festival was held from 4 to 19 May 1972. The Palme d'Or went to the Italian films The Working Class Goes to Heaven by Elio Petri and The Mattei Affair by Francesco Rosi.
The festival opened with the French film L'aventure, c'est l'aventure by Claude Lelouch and closed with the British film Frenzy by Alfred Hitchcock.
Jury
The following people were appointed as the Jury of the 1972 feature film competition:
Feature films
Joseph Losey (UK) Jury President
Bibi Andersson (Sweden) Georges Auric (France) Erskine Caldwell (USA) Mark Donskoi (Soviet Union) Miloš Forman (USA) Giorgio Papi (Yugoslavia) Jean Rochereau (France) (journalist) Alain Tanner (Switzerland) Naoki Togawa (Japan) Short films Frédéric Rossif (France) President Istvan Dosai (Hungary) (Cinématographie official) Vicente Pineda (Italy) (journalist)
Official selection
In competition - Feature film
The following feature films competed for the Palme d'Or:
Dear Louise (Chère Louise) by Philippe de Broca
A Fan's Notes by Eric Till
Havoc (Das Unheil) by Peter Fleischmann
Hearth Fires (Les Feux de la Chandeleur) by Serge Korber
I Love You Rosa (Ani Ohev Otach Rosa) by Moshé Mizrahi
Images by Robert Altman
Jeremiah Johnson by Sydney Pollack
King, Queen, Knave by Jerzy Skolimowski
Malpertuis by Harry Kümel
The Mattei Affair (Il Caso Mattei) by Francesco Rosi
Oil Lamps (Petrolejové lampy) by Juraj Herz
Pearl in the Crown (Perła w koronie) by Kazimierz Kutz
Red Psalm (Még kér a nép) by Miklós Jancsó
The Ruling Class by Peter Medak
The Seduction of Mimi (Mimí metallurgico ferito nell'onore) by Lina Wertmüller
Silence (Chinmoku) by Masahiro Shinoda
Slaughterhouse-Five by George Roy Hill
Solaris (Solyaris) by Andrei Tarkovsky
The Surveyors (Les arpenteurs) by Michel Soutter
To Find a Man by Buzz Kulik
Trotta by Johannes Schaaf
The True Nature of Bernadette (La vraie nature de Bernadette) by Gilles Carle
The Visitors by Elia Kazan
We Won't Grow Old Together (Nous ne vieillirons pas ensemble) by Maurice Pialat
The Working Class Goes to Heaven (La classe operaia va in paradiso) by Elio Petri
Films out of competition
The following films were selected to be screened out of competition:
Asta Nielsen by Asta Nielsen
Bröder Carl by Susan Sontag
Faustine et le bel été by Nina Companéez
Frenzy by Alfred Hitchcock
L'aventure c'est l'aventure by Claude Lelouch
La dérive by Paula Delsol
La Génération du désert by Nicole Stéphane
Une guerre pour une paix by Nicole Stéphane
Lisa and the Devil by Mario Bava
Den gale dansker by Kirsten Stenbæk
Le lys de mer by Jacqueline Audry
Hvezda Betlémská by Hermína Týrlová
Alye maki Issyk-Kulya by Bolotbek Shamshiyev
Les Jeunes Filles En Fleurs by David Hamilton, Philippe Leroi
Macbeth by Roman Polanski
Marie by Márta Mészáros
Merry-Go-Round by Kirsten Stenbæk
Papa, les petits bateaux by Nelly Kaplan
Roma by Federico Fellini
Serata by Malvina Ursianu
Sziget a szárazföldön by Judit Elek
Short film competition
The following short films competed for the Short Film Palme d'Or:
Atlantyda by Piotr Szpakowicz
The Birth of Aphrodite by Leland Auslender
Le Fusil à lunette by Jean Chapot
Giovanni Michelucci by Fernando Cerchio
Hundertwasser's Rainy Day by Peter Schamoni
Jour de classe by Henri Jouf
Magic Graz by Curt Faudon
Malka dnevna muzika by Ivan Vesselinov
Mini by Stoian Doukov
I Omorfia tou thanatou by Nestoras Matsas
Operation X-70 by Raoul Servais
Pour solde de tout compte by Louis Pitzele
Een Zeer zonnige wereld by Pieter De Groot
Zikkaron by Laurent Coderre
Parallel sections
International Critics' Week
The following feature films were screened for the 11th International Critics' Week (11e Semaine de la Critique):