On the road to the Oscars | Who can still stop Oppenheimer?

After a year marked by the writers’ and actors’ strike, the 96^e Oscar night will be held on March 10. Will we witness the coronation ofOppenheimer ? The French film Anatomy of a fall, who dominated the César awards, could he change the situation? Our journalists Marc Cassivi and Manon Dumais discuss it.

Manon Dumais: Nobody expected that Simple like Sylvainby Monia Chokri, won the César for best foreign film ahead of Oppenheimer, by Christopher Nolan, but everyone expects the 13-times-nominated film about the father of the atomic bomb to dominate Oscar night. It is certain that with its victories at the Golden Globes, the BAFTAs and the SAG Awards, the film has the wind in its sails. However, I have the firm impression that with its five selections, Anatomy of a fallby Justine Triet, the only woman to compete in the best director category, could shine more than once on Sunday.

Marc Cassivi: I would be the first to be delighted, but I wouldn’t count on it. I don’t understand how France could not select Anatomy of a fall in the category of best international film. I see Justine Triet perhaps winning in the best screenplay category with her companion Arthur Harari. I know that surprises are always possible at the Oscars, but in light of the awards collected in the professional association ceremonies, I don’t see much escaping. Oppenheimer in the top categories: film, directing, acting, supporting actor. Do you believe in suspense more than me?

MD: It’s not so much that I believe in suspense, but these evenings being so long, I like it when there are surprises. If Justine Triet, second woman to win the César for best director and third to win the Palme d’Or, leaves empty-handed, German actress Sandra Hüller could well add a trophy to her collection. Although my little finger tells me that Lily Gladstone, crowned at the Golden Globes and the Screen Actors Guild Awards, could become the first indigenous person to win the Oscar for best actress. And this, despite the formidable Emma Stone, also crowned at the Golden Globes.

MC: My little finger tells me the same thing as yours. Most of the time, SAG Award winners also win at the Oscars. I would have predicted an Emma Stone victory after seeing her so exuberant in Poor Things at the Venice Festival, but Lily Gladstone is excellent in a completely different register, that of interiority and the unsaid, in Killers of the Flower Moon. Sandra Hüller was remarkable in Anatomy of a falljust like Carey Mulligan in Maestro. We won’t come back to that, but the absence of Margot Robbie in this category and that of Greta Gerwig in that of best director are not scandalous. What would have been a scandal is if Sandra Hüller and Justine Triet were not finalists in these same categories.

MD: Totally agree with you. However, I would have liked there to be more than one woman in the category of best director, but we agree that the five names selected – Triet, Scorsese, Nolan, Lanthimos and Glazer – are big size. Let’s not forget that Celine Song was also “snubbed”. Perhaps we should open the door to this category for documentarians; I am thinking of the Tunisian Kaouther Ben Hania, who signed Olfa’s daughters, in the running for best documentary feature film. The Oscars should also take inspiration from the Gala Québec Cinéma, where we find the categories of editing, photo direction and sound for documentaries.

MC: If anyone is constantly snubbed at the Oscars, it’s certainly documentary filmmakers! I also find that we don’t talk enough about Celine Song and Past Livescertainly one of the best films of the year. Oppenheimer is not my favorite Christopher Nolan film, even if I recognize its great qualities. The Trinity test is an anthology scene, but you have to love commissions of inquiry. And then I’m not the only one who was disturbed by Nolan’s choice not to show the devastation of Nagasaki and Hiroshima.

MD: It’s a choice that can be defended… perhaps he didn’t want to reopen this scar, but if we don’t know anything about the Second World War, we can’t understand the impact of the atomic bomb on Japan. Although superior to many other films, Oppenheimer is not at all my favorite of the lot – I preferred barbie ! My two favorite films have the extraordinary acting of Sandra Hüller as a common element: Anatomy of a fall And The Zone of Interest. There were several negative reactions when France withheld The passion of Dodin Bouffantreleased in the United States for Valentine’s Day, rather thanAnatomy of a fall. Trần Anh Hùng’s film, winner of the Best Director Award at Cannes, is no match for the masterful and impactful The Zone of Interest, by Jonathan Glazer. It’s a shame because the last time France won in the best foreign film category, it was for Indochinaby Régis Warnier, in 1993. Hey, that makes me think thatAnatomy of a fall has the same American distributor – Neon – as Parasite, by Bong Joon-ho. Justine Triet’s film attracted nearly 580,000 admissions in the United States; the record was held by Portrait of the girl on fireby Céline Sciamma, whose film was even parodied at Saturday Night Live, with 410,000 entries. Remember that in 2020, Parasite won four Oscars out of a possible five. We can dream, right?

MC: Anatomy of a fall, best film and best direction! That would have the effect of a bomb! I wonder if Christopher Nolan would take it as well as his smile intended for Monia Chokri at the Césars evening suggested. WhatAnatomy of a fall has been seen so much in the United States and is so often nominated for the Oscars gives an idea of ​​the path taken to make the ceremony less Americanocentric. Parasite was a pivotal moment in this sense. I look through the list of Oscar winners for best picture in history and I have the impression that we have finally gotten rid of the conservative choices that have marked the Academy since the 1980s. This year, on ten finalists, there is a French film and a film shot in German. It is the beginning of a new time. So yes, let’s dream!