Unofficial Academy Awards Discussion Board

The winners:

Best Picture: Custody
Best Director: Jacques Audiard, The Sisters Brothers
Best Actor: Alex Lutz, Guy
Best Actress: Lea Drucker, Custody
Best Supporting Actor: Philippe Katerine, Sink or Swim
Best Supporting Actress: Karin Viard, Little Tickles
Most Promising Male Newcomer: Dylan Robert, Sheherezade
Most Promising Female Newcomer: Kenza Fortas, Sheherezade
Best First Feature: Sheherezade
Best Sound: The Sisters Brothers
Best Cinematography: The Sisters Brothers
Best Film Editing: Custody
Best Documentary: So Help me God
Best Animated Film: Dilili In Paris
Best Animated Short Film: Wicked Girl
Best Original Music: Guy (Romain Greffe and Vincent Blanchard)
Best Short Film: Les Petits mains
Best Foreign Film: Shoplifters
Best Adapted Screenplay: Little Tickles (Andrea Bescond and Eric Metemayer)
Best Original Screenplay: Custody (Xavier Legrand)
Best Production Design: The Sisters Brothers
Best Costume Design: Mademoiselle de Joncquieres

HarryGoldfarb wrote:

Precious Doll wrote: Its not one of the Caesars better lineups as like US cinema its been a rather poor year for French cinema. A couple of weeks ago The Hollywood Reporter had an article with a number of prominent French critics bemoaning that very fact with the general consensus being that only Custody was the only standout of the year.

Why wasn't Custody submitted for the Academy Award? A Venice Film Festival winner, directed by a previous Academy Award nominee... I don't know, but it surely fits the picture.

France used to be a common name among nominees for Best Foreign Language Film, but its nods are getting scarcer, more sproadic. Despite having submitted great films in the last years, it has failed to win and Oscar since 1992 when Indochine did it. In the last 10 years, only 2 French films have been nominated: Mustang and A Prophet, probably making this their worst decade.

Custody, along with Climax, The Four Sisters (a documentary by the late Claude Lanzmann) & Mademoislle de Joncquieres were all shortlisted and lost of Memoir of War.

France clearly have issues when it comes to selecting a film of this category. Climax over See You Up Their & At War?

To be honest Memoir of War, which I only just saw a couple of days ago, is as good as film as Custody is but Custody would have been more in line with Academy tastes. Possible reasons for their selection could be:

The short film directed by Xavier Legrand that was nominated in the short film category a few years ago, Avant que de tout perdre, failed to win;

Whilst Custody did respectable box office in France it bombed everywhere else and in particular the U.S. (it made more $$ in Australia which has a fraction of the population of the US);

They may have felt being a 'sequel' of sorts that viewers who hadn't seen the film may have problems with it (a ridiculous assumption though because I've not seen the short and Custody works on its own);

Memoir of War is based on a novel by Marguerite Duras (a former Oscar nominee for Hiroshima mon amour);

It touches on the Holocaust (another ridiculous assumption because many other films also have and a lot more directly than this one and have failed go gain nominations);

The French committee simply decided Memoir of War was the best film.

We won't know there reasons why but if was anything other than they decided Memoir of War was the better film than I think they made a mistake. For as good as Memoir of War is, it is not the type of film the Academy nominate in this category. Its simply way too intellectual for their tastes. Half of the film is narrated with extracts taken directly from Duras's novel - the film and leading lady Melanie Thierry who plays Duras in the film pull this off beautifully but I can easily imagine a lot of people being bored shitless by it. Whilst the film does have a conventional narrative it shifts between that and what is essentially Duras' thoughts formed during the last months of the occupation of Paris and then her anxious wait to see if her husband returns from imprisonment. That is a rather simplistic description that doesn't do the film justice.

Also worth noting that the French have their own particular way in producing their initial shortlist and one of those is that the film must have played in more than about 80 cinemas to qualify for consideration.Olivier Assayas spat the dummy because though his most recent film Non-Fiction was released during the Academy's qualifying period it did not meet the French criteria selection because it hadn't played in more than 80 cinemas.

On a further note French cinema feels like it is in decline and in some respects has felt like that for a number of decades. I don't think its possible to have that high turnover of creativity that French cinema went though in the 1960's & 1970s today. Directors like Olivier Assayas, Jacques Audiard, Stéphane Brizé, Cédric Klapisch, Abdellatif Kechiche, Christophe Honoré, etc are simply not making the volume and quality of the films that the likes of Godard, Resnais, Truffaut, Rohmer, Rivette, Chabrol, Melville, Malle, etc did during the 1960s & 1970s.

By the way, Godard has announced his retirement.

Precious Doll wrote: Its not one of the Caesars better lineups as like US cinema its been a rather poor year for French cinema. A couple of weeks ago The Hollywood Reporter had an article with a number of prominent French critics bemoaning that very fact with the general consensus being that only Custody was the only standout of the year.

Why wasn't Custody submitted for the Academy Award? A Venice Film Festival winner, directed by a previous Academy Award nominee... I don't know, but it surely fits the picture.

France used to be a common name among nominees for Best Foreign Language Film, but its nods are getting scarcer, more sproadic. Despite having submitted great films in the last years, it has failed to win and Oscar since 1992 when Indochine did it. In the last 10 years, only 2 French films have been nominated: Mustang and A Prophet, probably making this their worst decade.

Reza wrote:
Wonder what that age limit is? Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet was born in 1987 and was last nominated in this category for The Princess of Montpensier (2010) which would make him 23 at the time. Maybe 25 is the age limit.

Anyway it's pretty weird.

Circling back to Jehnny Beth, she is 34 and in the Newcomer Category. An age/number of films combination perhaps?

HarryGoldfarb wrote:

Reza wrote:

Precious Doll wrote:Can't help but question why Lily-Rose Depp is nominated for 'Most Promising Female Newcomer' as she has been making films in France for a few years now but the Caesars do this sort of things with the newcomer category all the time - nominated people who already been working for a number of years. Very odd.

This is because the promising newcomer category has an age thing built into it. Not sure if the limit is 18 or 21 but if an actor's age is below that age they get nominated repeatedly in the newcomer category and graduate to the lead or supporting category after they "come of age".

Thank you... I had the same question since Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet have been up for this award (male, obviously) 4 times! They must do something with the Award name...

Wonder what that age limit is? Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet was born in 1987 and was last nominated in this category for The Princess of Montpensier (2010) which would make him 23 at the time. Maybe 25 is the age limit.

Anyway it's pretty weird.

Reza wrote:

Precious Doll wrote:Can't help but question why Lily-Rose Depp is nominated for 'Most Promising Female Newcomer' as she has been making films in France for a few years now but the Caesars do this sort of things with the newcomer category all the time - nominated people who already been working for a number of years. Very odd.

This is because the promising newcomer category has an age thing built into it. Not sure if the limit is 18 or 21 but if an actor's age is below that age they get nominated repeatedly in the newcomer category and graduate to the lead or supporting category after they "come of age".

Thank you... I had the same question since Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet have been up for this award (male, obviously) 4 times! They must do something with the Award name...

Precious Doll wrote:Can't help but question why Lily-Rose Depp is nominated for 'Most Promising Female Newcomer' as she has been making films in France for a few years now but the Caesars do this sort of things with the newcomer category all the time - nominated people who already been working for a number of years. Very odd.

This is because the promising newcomer category has an age thing built into it. Not sure if the limit is 18 or 21 but if an actor's age is below that age they get nominated repeatedly in the newcomer category and graduate to the lead or supporting category after they "come of age".

Franz Ferdinand wrote:

Precious Doll wrote:Best Film:
Most Promising Female Newcomer:
Jenny Beth, An Impossible Love

Beth is, of course, the frontwoman for the incendiary London-based post-punk band Savages. Excelling in many fields.

I've never heard of Jenny Beth (or her band) but An Impossible Love has been on my radar for a while and I expect/hope to finally see it in the coming months.

Can't help but question why Lily-Rose Depp is nominated for 'Most Promising Female Newcomer' as she has been making films in France for a few years now but the Caesars do this sort of things with the newcomer category all the time - nominated people who already been working for a number of years. Very odd.

I can't help but root for Ophelie Bau in Mektoub, My Love: Canto Uno though. She is also the most gorgeous looking actress to emerge in years, oozes charisma and she can act. She's sensational in the film, very natural without a hint of self awareness but I think with all the baggage now attached to director Abdellatif Kechiche, the fact that the film itself was not that well received and its a long three hours, her chances of a win are next to zero. The sequel to the film Mektoub, My Love: Canto Due is due out this year.

Its not one of the Caesars better lineups as like US cinema its been a rather poor year for French cinema. A couple of weeks ago The Hollywood Reporter had an article with a number of prominent French critics bemoaning that very fact with the general consensus being that only Custody was the only standout of the year.

Precious Doll wrote:Best Film:
Most Promising Female Newcomer:
Jenny Beth, An Impossible Love

Beth is, of course, the frontwoman for the incendiary London-based post-punk band Savages. Excelling in many fields.

Best Film:
Custody (10 nominations)
Guy (6 nominations)
In Safe Hands (7 nominations)
Memoir of War (8 nominations)
Sink or Swim (10 nominations)
The Sisters Brothers (9 nominations)
The Trouble With You (9 nominations)

Best Director:
Custody, Xavier Legrand
Guy, Alex Lutz
In Safe Hands, Jeanne Herry
Memoir of War, Emmanuel Finkiel
Sink or Swim, Gilles Lellouche
The Sisters Brothers, Jacques Audiard
The Trouble With You, Pierre Salvadori

Best Actress:
Elodie Bouchez, In Safe Hands
Cecile de France, Mademoiselle de Joncquieres
Lea Drucker, Custody
Virginie Efira, An Impossible Love
Adele Haenel, The Trouble With You
Sandrine Kiberlain, In Safe Hands
Melanie Thierry, Memoir of War

Best Actor:
Edouard Baer, Mademoiselle de Jonquieres
Romain Duris, Our Struggles
Vincente Lacoste, Amanda
Gilles Lellouche, In Safe Hands
Alex Lutz, Guy
Pio Marmai, The Trouble With You
Denis Meochet, Custody

Best Supporting Actress:
Isabelle Adjani, The World Is Yours
Leila Bekhti, Sink or Swim
Virginie Efira, Sink or Swim
Audrey Tautou, The Trouble With You
Karin Viard, Little Tickles

Best Supporting Actor:
Jean-Hughes Anglade, Sink or Swim
Damien Bonnard, The Trouble With You
Clovis Cornillac, Little Tickes
Philippe Katerine, Sink or Swim
Denis Podalydes, Sorry Angel

Most Promising Female Newcomer:
Ophelie Bau, Mektoub My Love
Galatea Bellugi, The Apparition
Jenny Beth, An Impossible Love
Lily-Rose Depp, A Faithful Man
Kenza Fortas, Sheherezade

Most Promising Male Newcomer:
Anthony Bajon, The Prayer
Thomas Gioria, Custody
William Lebghil, The Freshman
Karim Leklou, The World Is Yours
Dylan Robert, Sheherezade

Best First Film:
L’Amour flou
Custody
Little Tickles
Savage
Sheherezade

Best Original Screenplay:
Custody
Guy
In Safe Hands
Sink or Swim
The Trouble With You

Best Adapted Screenplay:
An Impossible Love
Little Tickles
Mademoiselle de Joncquieres
Memoir of War
The Sisters Brothers

Best Animated Film:
Asterix: The Secret of the Magic Potion
Dilili In Paris
Pachamama

Best Documentary:
America
Da Chaque Instant
Le Grand Bal
Ni Juge, Ni Soumise
The State Against Mandela and the Others

Best Foreign Film:
Capernaum
Cold War
Girl
Hannah
Our Struggles
Shoplifters
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri