It's "Two of Us" for France. With so many Oscar nods will they ever win again?

Friday, November 20, 2020 at 10:10AM
NATHANIEL R in Best International Film, Entre Nous, France, Francophile, François Truffaut, Indochine, Jean-Louis, Mon Oncle, Oscar Trivia, René Clément, The Class

by Nathaniel R

In something of a surprise move, France has selected the lesbian seniors drama Deux  (or Two of Us) for Oscar submission rather than their higher profile titles Summer of '85 with its EFA director nomination or Cuties with its hot potato festival run and Netflix controversy. This suggests that Two of Us might do very well in a month or three at the César Awards but for now let's talk France and Oscar as there's a LOT to discuss.

France is of course a total powerhouse at the Oscars. The Best International Feature Film category has existed as a competitive category for 64 years (as of last season) and France has been nominated in 59% of those races.

What's more they've tried to factor in to the competition 100% of the time! In point of fact, France is the only country that's never skipped an Oscar submission year.

FRANCE'S OSCAR STATS and key submissions after the jump...

Submitting since 1956 (the very first year of the competition)
65 Total Submissions 
38 Nominations (and 2 Additional Finalists)
9 Wins (#2 of all countries for wins)
3 Honorary Oscars (before the category existed)

France once rivalled Italy for most wins but they've had a lot of trouble actually triumphing in this Oscar in our current era...

Their most recent win was nearly thirty years ago with 1992's Indochine. But, regardless of "win" troubles, Oscar loves French films. They even nominate them somewhat regularly outside of the "foreign" category. 

KEY TITLES BEFORE THE FOREIGN CATEGORY EXISTED...

 

• A nous la liberté (1931) -First foreign language film nominated for any Oscar (Best Production Design)
• Grand Illusion (1937) First foreign language Best Picture Nominee before they dreamt up Honoraries for foreign titles. It obviously would have won the Oscar for Foreign Language Film had the category existed back then.
• Monsieur Vincent (1948) Honorary Award
• The Walls of Malapaga (1950) co-production with Italy Honorary Award
• Forbidden Games (1952) Honorary Award

 

KEY SUBMISSIONS - which is nearly all of them... 

The legendary Jacques Tati's "Mon Oncle"

• Gervaise (1956) Nominee
• Gates of Paris (1957) Nominee
• Mon Uncle (1958) Winner
• Black Orpheus (1959) Winner  (though some would argue it should have been a Brazilian win)
• La Verite (1960) Nominee
• Last Year at Marienbad (1961) weird that France's longest consecutive streak ended with a brilliant film that the Academy passed on. France has repeated that five consecutive nominee streak three times in their history. All three times they've had a winning film during the streak.
• Sundays and Cybele (1962) Nominee

• Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964) Nominee
• Pierrot Le Fou (1965) - This marked the only time they submitted a Jean-Luc Godard film. The Academy did not love it. Though later they gave Godard an Honorary.
• A Man and a Woman (1966) Winner
• Live for Life (1967) Nominee
• Stolen Kisses (1968) Nominee
• My Night with Maud (1969) Nominee
• Hoa-Binh (1970) Nominee
• Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1971) Winner
• Day for Night (1973) Winner
• Lacombe, Lucien (1974) Nominee
• Cousin, Cousine (1976) Nominee
• Madame Rosa (1977) Winner - Currently its Italian remake, The Life Ahead, is a finalist for Italy's submission.
• Get Out Your Handkerchiefs (1978) Winner
• A Simple Story (1979) Nominee
• The Last Metro (1980) Nominee
• Diva (1981) Not the first French film wee Nathaniel ever saw but the first true French film obsession, rented on VHS in the late 80s and watched repeatedly. So brilliant but probably too youth-popular in its era -- think Germany's fate with their Run Lola Run submission --  to strike a chord with the Academy.
• Coup de Torchon (1982) Nominee

Isabelle Huppert & Miou-Miou in "Entre Nous" - this was the second consecutive year when an Isabelle Huppert picture was nominated. But, oddly enough, it didn't happen again until Austria's "Amour"

• Entre Nous (1983) Nominee
• Three Men and a Cradle (1985) Nominee - Two years later this one got an American remake which became the biggest blockbuster of the year.
• Betty Blue (1986) Nominee  This excellent erotic drama was one of the Academy's most daring choices in the 80s, since it opens with a graphic sex scene and played unrated in movie theaters where it was a major arthouse hit.
• Au Revoir Les Enfants (1987) Nominee
• Camille Claudel (1988) Nominee
• Cyrano de Bergerac (1990) Nominee
• Indochine (1992) Winner  France's most recent winner.  This has been a bizarrely long drought for them after 11 Oscar wins in the first 44 years of the Academy's foreign honors. It's been 28 years now without a win!
• Ridicule (1996) Nominee
• East/West (1999) Nominee
• The Taste of Others (2000) Nominee
• Amélie (2001) Nominee  One of the most shocking losers in Academy history since it had multiple nominations and was one of the most internationally successful French films of all time.
• 8 Women (2002) This was the only time France submitted prolific auteur François Ozon. The category that year really could have used this musical comedy to spice the shortlist up!
• The Chorus (2004) Nominee
• Joyeux Noel (2005) Nominee
• Avenue Montagne (2006) That this relatively blasé film was a finalist tells you what you need to know about the Academy's general love of French film and their undiscriminating taste in the same.

• The Class (2008) Nominee (and would have made an excellent winner *sniffle*)
• A Prophet (2009) Nominee
• The Intouchables (2012) Before the days of the Executive Committee this problematic crowd pleaser would have absolutely been a nominee. Instead it had to settle for being a Finalist; The Executive Committee has improved this category so much! This was remade in the US as The Upside and became a big hit.
• Mustang (2015) Nominee
• Elle (2016) / BPM (Beats Per Minute (2017) -Two years in a row France submitted absolutely brilliant films and the Academy balked both times, the films not even making the "finals" (it was especially strange in the former case given the general love for the film and its Globe win). A truly devasting two-fer snub for discerning cinephiles who love French films. Especially since the Academy has nominated many so-so films just because they love France so much.
• Les Miserables (2019) Nominee

Most Frequently Submitted Directors in Foreign Film 
France does not repeat directors very often in this category... Too much to choose from! 

François Truffaut

1. François Truffaut (3 submissions - 3 nominated films, 1 winner)
2. René Clement (3 submissions sort of. 2 were Honorary Award winners before the category existed. 1 nominee followed) 
3. Louis Malles (3 submissions - 2 nominated films)
4. Claude Lelouch (2 submissions - 2 nominated films, one of them won)
5. Jean-Jacques Beneix (2 submissions - 1 nominated film)
6. Claude Berri (2 submissions - neither of them nominated...weirdly his most successful international hits Jean de Florette/Manon of the Spring were not submitted)

Most Oscar Honored French Artists

"Gowns by Jean-Louis" was the screen credit

1. Jean Louis (14 nominations, 1 win for Costume Design)
2. Michel Legrand (13 nominations, 3 wins for Music categories)
3. Alexandre Desplat (11 nominations, 2 wins for Original Score)
4. Maurice Jarre (9 nominations, 3 wins in Music categories)
5. Albert Wolsky (7 nomiantions, 2 wins for Costume Design)
6. François Truffaut (3 nominations for writing/directing) plus 3 nominations and 1 win in Best International Film*
7. [TIE] 5 nominations, 1 win each: Roman Polanski (Producing/Directing/Writing) and Georges Delerue (Original Score)
8. Jacques Demy (4 nominations Score/Writing/Song/Adapted Score) plus 1 nominations for Best International Film*
9. Jean-Claude Carrière (4 noms mostly for Writing, and 1 win for Live Action Short) plus an Honorary Oscar
   
   
10. Bruno Delbonnel (5 nominations for Best Cinematography)
11. Frédéric Back (4 noms, 2 wins in Best Animated Short)
12. Claude Lelouch (3 nominations, 1 win Writing/Director) plus two Nominations for Best International Film*
13. Costas-Gavras (3 nominations, 1 win Directing/Writing/Picture) plus one Nomination for Best Foreign Film which won* 
14. [TIE] 4 nominations each: Charles Boyer (Best Actor), Sylvain Chomet (Animated Feature x 2, Animated Short, and Original Song)
15. Jacques Yves Costeau (3 nominations, all winning in Documentary categories)
    
    Claudette Colbert getting her Oscar from Shirley Temple
16. [TIE] 3 nominations and 1 win each: Claudette Colbert (Best Actress), Michel Hazanavicius (writing/editing nominations, winning for Best Director), Gabriel Yared (Original Score), Raphaël Bretton (Production Design)
17. Louis Malle (3 nominations for writing/directing) plus 2 Best International Film nominees*
18. [TIE] 2 nominations, 1 win each: Simone Signoret, Juliette Binoche, and Marion Cotillard (Acting), Georges Périnal and Philippe Rousselot (Cinematography), Claude Berri (Picture/Live Action Short), Alexander Trauner and Pierre Guffroy (Production Design)
    
    
    
    
19. [TIE] 2 nominations each: Isabelle Adjani, Maurice Chevalier, Leslie Caron (Acting), Roland Joffé (Directing), Marcel Ophuls (Documentary Feature), Stephane Ceretti (Visual FX), Julie Delpy (Screenplay), Aline Bonetto (Production Design)
20. Agnes Varda (1 nominations plus 1 Honorary Award)
21. [TIE] 1 nomination plus a nomination for Best International Film* each: Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Jean-Paul Rappeneau

Article originally appeared on The Film Experience (http://thefilmexperience.net/).