"My Little Sister" and Switzerland at the Oscars
Tuesday, September 8, 2020 at 9:00PM by Nathaniel R
We have our second contender for Best International Feature at the forthcoming Oscars. Poland was first to announce but now we also know which film Switzerland will send. They're going with My Little Sister which stars two familiar German greats Nina Hoss (Phoenix, Barbara, A Most Wanted Man) and Lars Eidinger (Never Look Away, Personal Shopper, Clouds of Sils Maria). Hoss and Eidinger are only six months apart in age in real life and early reviews of their performances are strong so we can't wait to see them as twins. The movie is directed by Stéphanie Chuat and Véronique Reymond, a directing duo that Switzerland submitted once before in 2010 for The Little Bedroom...
SWITZERLAND'S OSCAR STATS
Submitting since 1961
48 Total Submissions
5 Nominations (and 3 Additional Finalists)
2 Wins
KEY SUBMISSIONS
- First Love (1970) Nominee
- L'Invitation (1973) Nominee
- The Boat is Full (1981) Nominee
- Dangerous Moves (1984) WINNER
- Journey of Hope (1990) WINNER
- Three Colors: Red (1994) Disqualified -- but it surely would have won if nominated
- Vitus (2006) Finalist
- Sister (2012) Finalist
- My Life as a Courgette (2016) Finalist, but nominated in Animated Feature
Joan Crawford with Oscar's favourite Swiss actor Maximillian Schell (Judgment at Nuremberg)Most Oscar-Honored Swiss Artists
- Arthur Cohn (4 documentary feature nominations and 3 wins. He also produced multiple winners in Best Foreign Film)
- Maximillian Schell (3 acting nominations and a win, plus he directed and co-starred in Switzerland's first foreign film nominee First Love)
- Richard Sweitzer (3 writing nominations and 2 wins)
- David Wechsler (2 writing nominations and a win -- both shared with Sweitzer)
- René Hubert (2 costume design nominations)
Most Frequently Submitted Directors in Foreign Film
- Alain Tainner (5 submissions)
- Xavier Koller (3 submissions, 1 nominated and won the prize)
- Markus Imhoof (3 submissions, 1 nominated film)
- Jean Luc-Godard (3 submissions)
- Claude Goretta (2 submissions, 1 nominated film)
- Ursula Meier and Fredi Murer (2 submissions with 1 finalist each)
- Daniel Schmid, Stéphanie Chuat & Véronique Reymond (2 submissions each)
Reader Comments (6)
Hoss and Eidinger are arguably the pre-eminent stage and screen stars of their generation in Germany, but while I adore her he constantly bugs the shit out of me (especially in his stage work). I probably would love what he does if he were a female actor, but he ain't.
Sadly I haven't seen their Oscar wins.
La dentellière was submitted?
Peggy Sue -- it was not. I dont know why since that movie was a success.
Nina Hoss is one of the greats. Exciting that she has a promising new film this fall!
Yay! I saw this at the online Sydney Film Festival in June. I saw it for Nina Hoss (natch) and she didn't disappoint.
It's very much a two-hander between her and her brother but then Nina has some scenes towards the end where she smashes it out of the park and, to my mind, it very much becomes her movie. It's a performance that sneaks up on you and she's spectacular.
Godard received an Honorary for the 83rd Academy Awards. Don’t know whether this commentary is pertinent here.