Oscars: why Anatomy of a Fall is eligible alongside American films

How can Anatomy of a Fall be nominated five times for the Oscars without being in the running for the statuette for best international film? The paradox has tickled many moviegoers since Tuesday. The answer lies both in the rules of the prestigious Hollywood ceremony and the profound renewal of its voters. Now 11,000, twice as many as ten years ago.

The Oscar for best foreign film operates separately from the 24 other categories of the gala. Each country, via its local body where professionals from the seventh art sit, submits the film of its choice at the end of its own selection process. To be eligible, a film must be released in its country of origin between January 1 and the end of the current year, and must have a majority of its dialogue in a language other than English. Ireland can therefore present films in Gaelic.

From this list which includes around a hundred contenders/territories, the American Cinema Academy must make a pre-selection of 15 titles. It is a first committee of volunteer members regardless of their branch, which takes care of this. A second committee of voters views them and votes to determine which five films will receive a nomination.

This year, the French CNC is under fire for having, against all logic, preferred The Passion of Dodin Bouffant to the film by Justine Triet. Its Polish equivalent which sanctioned Green Border by Agnieszka Holland, too anti-government, and the Japanese film institute, which opted for Perfect Days by the German Wim Wenders rather The Innocence of the Japanese master Kore-eda have suffered controversies similar.

To be eligible for the 24 other Oscar categories, it’s much simpler. It is enough to have been distributed theatrically in the United States for a certain period of time. Prevented from applying for the Oscar for best foreign film for reasons of release date, without dialogue since it is silent, The Artist by Michel Hazanavicius, a silent film, was thus able to be nominated ten times. Harvey Weinstein had put the means into it.

As soon as the CNC candidate was known, the American distributor of Anatomy of a Fall Neon, very strategic, recalled that Justine Triet's legal thriller, released in North America on October 13, could be nominated everywhere else. Neon has multiplied posters and inserts on this subject.

The company knows what it is talking about. His wise advice enabled Bong Joon-ho's South Korean Palme d'Or Parasite to garner six nominations and leave with four statuettes, including the unprecedented double best film and best international film. It was this same double that Netflix was eyeing with the autobiographical film by Mexican director Alfonso Cuarón, Roma.

Many international films have thus gone beyond the best foreign film category and received nominations alongside American blockbusters of their time. Tiger and Dragon by Ang Lee, the Italian dramas Life is Beautiful and The Postman were jointly nominated in the best film and best foreign film sections. Catherine Deneuve was in the running for the Oscar for best actress for Indochine, Marie-Christine Barrault for Cousin, Cousine, Emmanuelle Riva for Amour. Marion Cotillard received the distinction for La Môme. The Edith Piaf biopic was, like Anatomy of a Fall, snubbed by the CNC committee.

Also read: From Cannes to the Oscars, how Anatomy of a Fall is conquering the world

With the internationalization and rejuvenation of the members of the Academy of Oscars, more and more non-American films are breaking into the general categories. Julie in 12 chapters, Parasite, Drive My Car, The Zone of Interest, Anatomy of a Fall are the most obvious examples. The growing influence of this bloc of international voters undoubtedly explains the presence of Anatomy of a Fall in five categories: film, editing, direction, actress and original screenplay.

The feat is significant. For all categories, except best film, nominations are made branch by branch. This means that the editors vote for the best editing, the screenwriters vote for the best adaptation and screenplay sections, the actors for the twenty nominees for the acting awards, etc. Justine Triet wet her shirt a lot, multiplying the screenings intended for the different branches of the Oscars. Consistency pays off.

His dissection of the couple has, in fact, found enough supporters in each corporation to put him in the top five, probably at Barbie's expense. A real feat when we know that the powerful American unions of actors and directors have not gone in this direction.

To determine the ten feature films in the running for the flagship statuette for best film, the rules are simpler: the 11,000 members of the Oscar Academy vote. The ten films with the most votes appear. However, the winner is decided by a complex preferential weighting system. Each member must rank the nominees in order of preference. This is an other story.