EFA Noms Honor Plenty of Foreign Film Oscar Contenders
Saturday, November 3, 2012 at 5:00PM The European Film Awards will be held in Malta this year on December 1st, and as per usual they are honoring plenty of possible nominees in Oscar's Foreign Language Film category as well as films that are a little too outre for Oscar (last year Melancholia, completely ignored by Oscar, did well and this year that honor goes to Steve McQueen's Shame)
BEST EUROPEAN FILM
- Amour (Austria's Oscar Submission)
- Barbara (Germany's Oscar Submission)
- Caesar Must Die (Italy's Oscar Submission)
- The Hunt (Denmark)
- The Intouchables (France's Oscar Submission)
- Shame (UK)
Amour appears to be the likely frontrunner here as it leads in nominations but the EFAs are far less predictable than Oscar so anything might happen. Acting nominations, a very handsome director, and more after the jump.
Thomas VinterbergBEST EUROPEAN DIRECTOR
- Nuri Bilge Ceylan (Once Upon a Time in Anatolia, Turkey)
- Michael Haneke (Amour, Austria)
- Steve McQueen (Shame, UK)
- Vittorio & Paolo Taviani (Caesar Must Die, Italy)
- Thomas Vinterberg (The Hunt, Denmark)
I can't imagine Haneke losing this one, can you?
It's interesting to see The Hunt faring so well. Denmark sent the well reviewed A Royal Affair for Oscar, but from my understanding The Hunt (which also stars the ubiquitous Mads Mikkelsen, this time as a lonely father with child custody problems) wasn't yet eligible given that it hasn't seen release in Denmark. Still, it's nice to see Thomas Vinterberg who had such a sensational breakthrough in 1998 (Festen / The Celebration, annoyingly snubbed by Oscar but honored at the Golden Globes) back in the awards mix.
BEST EUROPEAN ACTRESS
- Emilie Dequenne (Our Children, Belgium's Oscar Submission)
- Nina Hoss (Barbara)
- Emmanuelle Riva (Amour)
- Margarethe Tiesel (Paradise: Love)
- Kate Winslet (Carnage)
I have to say that I'm a little thrown by the Kate Winslet nomination. I understand she's magnetized for awards but still... for Carnage? Marion Cotillard wasn't good enough for them in Rust & Bone? Or Carey Mulligan in Shame? I thought once the tiny cloud of buzz kicked up by Carnage's sort-of release had settled consensus had determined that no one in the cast was truly award worthy. If Amour is not the frontrunner everyone expects than it might be toughto beat Emilie Dequenne who won at Cannes and who is riveting in Our Children's central meaty role as a perpetually pregnant housewife with an extreme case of post-partum depression.
BEST EUROPEAN ACTOR
- François Cluzet & Omar Sy (The Intouchables)
- Michael Fassbender (Shame)
- Mads Mikkelsen (The Hunt)
- Gary Oldman (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy)
- Jean-Louis Trintignant (Amour)
Given that The Intouchables are sharing a nomination, they might be a formidable threat if the EFA wants to honor the global blockbuster. Otherwise we could be looking at his & hers wins for Amour.
What'cha think?
You can see the full nomination lists at the European Film Awards Official Site.
Reader Comments (17)
Is "Our Children" being released in the US this year?
It's fantastic to see Shame in all the big categories. Unfortunately, our beloved Fassy, who truly deserves it, will need more than a miracle to beat Trintignant or the guys from Intouchables.
I don't get the love for Carnage either. I guess it's the eternal Polanski effect or the fact that they never saw the play.
I can totally see Amour winning the big 5.
I found The Hunt roughly as riveting as The Celebration, with career-best work from Mikkelsen - great to see them each getting attention. Also fabulous to see Ceylan pop up in the Director category (all his previous films bored me shitless, but Anatolia has rendered me a total fangirl).
Also - Winslet aside (who was fine, but nothing special) the Actress slate is really a bit spectacular. Tiesel probably has the lowest profile among those nominees, but I would argue hers is the strongest, and certainly gutsiest, performance. Though - due to my enduring love for Hiroshima mon amour on top of her gorgeously committed, precise and unshowy work in Amour - even I would be tempted to vote Riva.
Meantime, Royal Affair is just the Euro-version of Oscar-bait: expensive, eminently worthy period fluff dressed up as intrigue, where a lot happens all the time, and not a single scene or gesture achieves depth or meaning.
And does this mean I now have to go see Intouchables? It just looks and sounds so painful..
'Cesare deve Morrire' for Best European Film is a HUGE stretch. I still think it won in Berlin because of the Taviani brothers' age.
Barbara, Sister and Tabu were much better choices. Even A Royal Affair.
And this list of nominees with that and The Hunt and without Ursula Meier's Sister, Belgium's Our Children and Portugal's Tabu is useless.
At least I hope AMOUR wins it.
And WHY is not 'Rust and Bone' here? For people who fully embraced 'A Prophet' (even giving Best Actor to Rahim for example) it's quite strange that they didn't fancy Audiard's new movie. Not even Marion Cotillard (but then again she also lost in 2007. To Helen Mirren). Nuts.
No Tabu ? No Rust and Bone ? No Matthias Schoenaerts ? Right...
Go Riva... Go Fassbender...
Interesting. Isn't Amour an Austrian production?
I love winslet, but how the hell did she get nominated over Marion Cottilard.
No "Rust and Bone" left me shocked too. They did love "A Prophet", heck the clips they used that year for it almost suggested they liked it more than "The White Ribbon" and in all fairness out of every female performance I've seen this year, Cotillard is the only one who even comes close to matching the intensity and beauty of Riva's. With that said,"Amour" oughta win every single thing.
Personally I would like to see three "foreign" best actors nominations and two "foreign" best actress nominations at the Oscars.
Trintignant and Riva for Armour
Schoenaerts and Cottilliard for D'Rouille et d'Os
Mikkelsen for Jagten
There will not be many English speaking performances that will be better then any of these.
Cotillard's exclusion is quite surprising...but actually it seems they didn't like RUST & BONE at all...in some forums Cotillard's snub has been seen as a signal that she will be overlooked also by the Academy...quite possible but I'm not sure it will happen because she missed the EFA...
I think at efa there is some sort of unofficial country quota (also because i think the academy is composed of a certain number of french, germans etc ) so you wouldnt normally have 2 actors or films from the same country. It happens, but rarely so. Cottilard's absence might not mean a thing (if the film was eligible at all)
Ralph, i don't think The Hunt is getting a release this year but I see your point :)
Bacio -- RUST & BONE was eligible. It was on their selection list from which all the nominations were drawn.
No Marion Cotillard for Rust & Bone and we have Kate Winslet for Carnage instead? The Best European Actress nominees shortlist couldn't be perfect...
Saw The Hunt at TIFF with the handsome Mikkelsen and Vinterberg in attendance. It's still one of my favourites of the year. It would take a miracle but Mikkelsen deserves a Best Actor nomination.
I finally (FINALLY!) saw Shame last week and I didn't really get all the fuss. The performances were great, but the film as a whole left me cold. Technically proficient, even beautiful at some points, but mostly indulgent and didn't bring anything new to a subject that has been broached many times before.