Love conquered all in this year's Cannes.

Austrian director Michael Haneke's masterpiece took home the top Palme d'Or prize and the hearts of everyone who watched it, reducing critics and viewers to tears and applause.

Love (Amour) is a heartrending tale about love, death and eternity. It tells the story of an elderly Frenchman facing the imminent death of his dying wife. The simple storytelling allowed watchers to see the intimacy and pain of the wife Anne as she underwent her physical and mental decline. The movie captured the heartwrenching efforts of husband Georges to stand by her as he fulfilled his pledge to take care of her and be there until the end.

The jury, headed by Italian director Nanni Moretti, declared Haneke's opus as the best among the 21 entries, cementing the latter's status as one of the most important filmmakers in Europe.

This is the second time that Haneke won the Palme d'Or. He won in 2009 for his war film The White Ribbon, a black-and-white film about a German village on the eve of World War I. The award allowed Haneke to join the elite ranks of two-time awardees, which include US director Francis Ford Coppola, Japan's Shohei Imamura, Belgian brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Darndenne, Serbia's Emir Kusturica, and Denmark's Bille August.

Love was initially declared a hands-down favorite to win the top prize.

"I must say I cried a lot," jury member Jean Paul Gaultier told reporters. "I realized that maybe to be on the jury was not so easy because you have to have a lot of emotions sometimes that are strong and make you hurt. But I love to be hurt that way," he added.

"The film talks about love," Haneke told a press conference. "The film is an illustration of the promise we made to each other, if either one of us finds ourselves in the situation that is described in the film," the 70-year old told the cheering audience.