French film director Justine Triet (left) and German actress Sandra Huller show their European Film Awards for the film “Anatomy of a Fall” on December 9, 2023 in Berlin Odd Andersen
Text size
“Anatomy of a Fall”, the French film directed by Justine Triet, was nominated in five Oscar categories, a success for a director who irritated the French government when her film won the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 2023.
Nominations include “best film” and “best director,” after France opted not to submit the film, a 2H32 courtroom drama, to the “best international film” competition.
In any case, the competition will be very tough: “Anatomy of a Fall” faces “Oppenheimer”, one of last year’s great successes, in the category of best film, and “Poor Creatures”, with a powerful Emma Stone embodying a female Frankenstein.
It has been a decade since French cinema had such success, when a silent, black and white film, “The Artist”, surprised by winning two awards.
French cinema also celebrates its own selection of César awards this Wednesday, and “Anatomy of a Fall” is also a big favorite.
In addition to best film and best direction, “Anatomy of a Fall” is nominated for an Oscar for best screenplay, best leading actress and best editing.
“Five nominations, it’s something so beautiful, so crazy! Thank you to all our wonderful team. This adventure is simply incredible,” the film’s producer, Marie-Ange Luciani, commented on Instagram.
The film reconstructs the death of a tormented man in an isolated house, in the heart of the Alps, where he lives with his wife, an icy Sandra Huller, and a ten-year-old son whose interrogation can tip the balance of the mystery: was it a suicide, a accident or murder?
Last year, Justine Triet became the third director to win the Palme d’Or at age 45.
Not only Sandra Huller stands out, cold and vulnerable at the same time, but also the child, with an inscrutable face, the young actor Milo Machado-Graner.
Ten years ago, “The Artist”, by Michel Hazanavicius, won the award for best film and elevated the protagonist, Jean Dujardin, to an Oscar for best actor and now one of the well-known foreign faces of Hollywood cinema.
Justine Triet could join other distinguished French women in Hollywood in recent years, such as Marion Cotillard (best actress in 2008 for “La Vie en Rose”) and Juliette Binoche (best supporting actress in 1997 for “The English Patient”).
The nominations for “Anatomy…” are of additional interest, because Justine Triet denounced the “neoliberal policies” of President Emmanuel Macron’s government on the Cannes awards night, generating a harsh response from the Minister of Culture at the time.
Macron, unusually, did not send a congratulatory message, although he did so in January, when the French film triumphed at the Golden Globes.
Despite its success in France (1.3 million admissions) and internationally (1.6 million admissions), the commission in charge of selecting the film candidate for the Oscar for best international film did not choose it.
He preferred instead “The Passion of Dodin Bouffant” by Tran Anh Hung, a film about French gastronomy with Benoît Magimel and Juliette Binoche that was not finally selected in Los Angeles.
The Oscar ceremony will take place on March 10.
