A curse of three decades. Since the ovation in 1993 at Indochina by Régis Wargnier, never has a French feature film managed to pocket the prestigious statuette of the best international film at the Oscars again. The shortlisted films, unveiled this Thursday by the competent committee, are five in number. But only one will be responsible for warding off bad luck, at the ceremony scheduled for March 12, 2023 in Las Vegas. Of the 33 films submitted, here are the last five in the running, before a final verdict on September 23:
A Plein temps, by Éric Gravel, with Laure Calamy, Anne Suarez and Geneviève Mnich.
The worst, by Lise Akoka and Romane Gueret, with Mallory Wanecque, Timéo Mahaut and Johan Heldenbergh.
See Paris again, by Alice Winocour, with Virginie Efira and Benoît Magimel.
Saint Omer, by Alice Diop, with Kayije Kagame, Guslagie Malanda and Valérie Dréville. The director has just pocketed the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival on September 10.
A nice morning, by Mia Hansen-Løve, with Léa Seydoux, Pascal Greggory and Melvil Poupaud.
Since a reform passed this summer, justified in particular by a desire to dispel suspicions of conflicts of interest by removing the ex officio members, the commission in charge of deciding is made up of seven film professionals, appointed each year by the Minister of Culture, Rima Abdul Malak, on the proposal of the president of the National Center for Cinema and the Moving Image (CNC), Dominique Boutonnat. This year, its members are exporters Grégoire Melin and Hengameh Panahi, producers Didar Domehri and Philippe Rousselet, directors Jacques Audiard and Michel Gondry, and distribution manager at Gaumont, Ariane Toscan du Plantier.
Only feature films released between January 1 and November 30, 2022, were eligible, not necessarily in French, but in a majority language different from English, and whose artistic team is mainly French. Last year, Titaniumby Julia Ducournau, emerged unsuccessful from the competition, after winning the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival.