Tonight, Amour, the Austrian film directed by Michael Haneke, received the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar.
In the Cinema Without Borders reader’s poll, our audience chose Amour over the other 2013 Nominees. However Bijan Tehrani, Editor In Chief of CWB, believes that another film may have been more deserving.
“In 2012, the much-hyped A Separation won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film amongst lackluster competition. This year, I was personally surprised that Amour won the Oscar despite the presence of the amazing picture The War Witch as a fellow nominee. Amour provided a captivating subject and fantastic performances, but The War Witch blew me away with seamless storytelling and profound themes”
Most of the other nominees for the the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, were almost sure that Amour will win, in an interview prior to the award ceremony, when we asked about the chances of War Witch winning the Oscar and impact of it Kim Nguyen told Cinema Without Borders that: “More and more, as I have been making films, it’s become more about the road than the final result. It’s important to fight for it and go for it. Of course Haneke has such a legacy I think he’s our biggest contender in the competition. However, having seen all the films except for Kon-Tiki, I’m really happy to be part of the nominees and all my colleagues have done remarkable films. I think our edge is perhaps on the formal side: we have a narrative that leads away from the standard narrative which makes its originality. But again Haneke has such a legacy that I am not sure we can convince people that our movie should win the Oscars! There’s such a strong vibe around Amour that he might just win or be a strong contender for Best Film.”
Other nominees for the Best Foreign language Film Award were Kon-Tiki (Norway), No (Chile), A Royal Affair (Denmark) and War Witch (Canada).
Amour
2012, Sony Pictures Classics, 127 min., France, Dir. Michael Haneke.
This heart-breaking look at love in the twilight of life won the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival and was named best film of the year by Time magazine. The latest film from acclaimed writer-director Michael Haneke is the story of retired music teachers Anne (Emmanuelle Riva) and George (Jean-Louis Trintignant) who are living a quiet life in their Paris apartment when Anne suffers a stroke. Her condition deteriorates following surgery, and she exacts a promise from her husband not to send her to a nursing home – but the strain of caring for his wife mounts on George, and daughter Eva (Isabelle Huppert) is little help.