Oscars 2013: 'Amour' in, 'Intouchables' out for foreign language

Oscars 2013: ‘Amour’ in, ‘Intouchables’ out for foreign language

By Mark Olsen

Jan. 9, 2013 9:41 PM PT

Academy voters showed their love for Austria’s “Amour” on Thursday morning, with the deep and intimate look at an aging couple facing the end of life together being nominated not just for best foreign language film, but also for best picture and in three other categories.

Written and directed by Michael Haneke, with powerful performances by Emmanuelle Riva and Jean-Louis Trintignant, the film has been the presumed front-runner in the foreign language category ever since it took the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival when it premiered there in May. It has been winning a steady stream of awards ever since. Haneke was nominated for best director and best screenplay, and the 85-year-old Riva was nominated for best actress, the oldest nominee ever in that category.

“This is a movie where nominations like that will really help its success at the box office and really make a difference,” said Michael Barker, co-president of Sony Pictures Classics, distributor of “Amour.” “It just means the world to the life of a movie like this.”

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He added: “It’s so great to see Michael Haneke have his moment.”

Also making the cut of five nominees is Denmark’s “A Royal Affair,” directed by Nikolaj Arcel. Based on a true story, the film is a tale of romantic and political intrigue starring Mads Mikkelsen, Alicia Vikander and Mikkel Folsgaard. Norway’s “Kon-Tiki,” directed by Joachim Ronning and Espen Sandberg, is also based on a true story, the tale of Thor Heyerdahl’s 1947 voyage across the Pacific. Heyerdahl’s documentary of his journey itself won an Oscar for best documentary.

Chile’s “No,” directed by Pablo Larrain, stars Gael Garcia Bernal in the story of the advertising campaign that turned the tide in the 1988 elections that removed Augusto Pinochet from power. Canada’s “War Witch,” directed by Kim Nguyen, tells the harrowing story of a child soldier in Africa.

The surprise omission in the category would have to be the French submission “The Intouchables,” directed by Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano, which has been an international blockbuster, raking in more than $420 million worldwide and over $13 million in the U.S. with its story of a rough youth from the poor suburbs of Paris who comes to work for a handicapped aristocrat. The film’s star-making turn by actor Omar Sy earned him a French Cesar award, beating out Jean Dujardin from “The Artist” for the prize.

Also not making the cut from the shortlist this year were Iceland’s “The Deep,” directed by Baltasar Kormakur, Romania’s “Beyond the Hills,” directed by Cristian Mungiu and Switzerland’s “Sister,” directed by Ursula Meier.

This season is the first that the foreign language committee has been overseen by former Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences executive director Bruce Davis and producer Ron Yerxa. Previously, the panel had been overseen by Mark Johnson, who had made efforts to bring the academy’s selections more in line with the films being celebrated on the international festival circuit.

The process for receiving a nomination begins with individual countries putting forth a single film as their selection, with a record 71 submissions this year. After a screening process, six films are put forward by a volunteer committee of academy members, with another three films being added by an executive committee to make up a shortlist of nine.

Those films are then screened over a weekend by a specially selected committee in Los Angeles and New York to reach the final five nominees. To vote on the final award, academy members must prove they have seen theatrical screenings of all five nominees.

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