Perhaps the French selection committee knows something we don’t, but they turned the race or the International Film Oscar on its head today. Instead of selecting Justine Triet’s Palme d’Or winner, “Anatomy of a Fall,” a likely Best Picture nominee, the group picked Tran Anh Hung’s sublime but terribly re-titled “The Taste of Things” (still known as “The Pot-au-Feu” in the rest of the world) instead. France has not won the International Film category in 30 years.
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The Vietnamese-born Anh Hung won Best Director at Cannes this past May for “Pot-au-Feu.” He was previously nominated in this category as Vietnam’s entry for “The Scent of Green Papaya” in 1994. “Pot-au-Feu” has received strong reviews and features an impressive performance from two-time Oscar nominee and Best Supporting Actress winner Juliette Binoche. It’s also beautifully shot by cinematographer Jonathan Ricquebourg who gives every morsel in the film’s late 19th-century kitchen a glowing embrace.
And perhaps that’s why “Pot-au-Feu” won out. It’s a romance set in the world of French gourmet cooking. It’s an inherently “French” movie. “Anatomy,” on the other hand, may have a French director – and only the third woman to win the Palme – but it takes place in Switzerland and features a good chunk of English dialogue (it reportedly barely made the category threshold). Despite Triet having a shot at a Best Director nom, star Sandra Huller in the Best Actress race, and an Original Screenplay shot, maybe it just wasn’t French enough for the committee. Needless to say, it has to be a slightly disappointing turn of events for U.S. distributor NEON and their overall Oscar campaign.
This year, France’s selection committee included Lionsgate film co-chief Patrick Wachsberger, industry veterans Sabine Chemaly and Tanja Meissner, producer Charles Gillibert, Mounia Meddour, Olivier Assayas, and Alexandre Desplat.
France was last nominated in 2020 for Ladj Ly’s “Les Miserables.” It made the shortlist in 2021 for “Two of Us.” It has won the category 12 times (second only to Italy) and been nominated 41 times, more than any other country.
Other contenders in the International Film category this year include Wim Wender’s “Perfect Days” (Japan), Jonathan Glazer’s “The Zone of Interest” (United Kingdom), Aki Kaurismäki’s “Fallen Leaves” (Finland), Pawo Choyning Dorji’s “The Monk and the Gun” (Butan), and J.A. Bayona’s “Society of the Snow” (Spain), among others.
IFC Films has not set a release date for “The Taste of Things” at publication. “Anatomy of a Fall” will open in limited release on October 13.