Oscars 2021: “Two”, the representative of France, shortlisted

Filippo Meneghetti’s feature film is one of the 15 feature films selected in the best foreign film category. Only five will enter the competition.

One step closer to the Oscars. Of them, chosen in November by France to represent it in the best foreign film category, is one of the feature films selected in the pre-selection of the Academy unveiled on Tuesday. In this first list, which will be reduced over the next few weeks, the film by Italian Filippo Meneghetti finds itself facing Drunk, representing Denmark, with Mads Mikkelsen in the lead role.

This year, the Academy of Sciences and Cinema Arts, which awards the prestigious film awards, has chosen to include not ten but fifteen feature films in its shortlist for the Oscar for best foreign film. Only five films will finally be retained in the list of nominations, published on March 15. The pre-selection of nine categories has so far been unveiled.

Of them tells the story of two retirees, Nina (Barbara Sukowa) and Madeleine (Martine Chevallier), who have lived a secret and passionate love affair for decades. They are neighbors in a small French town where everyone, including the daughter of Madeleine played by Léa Drucker, is unaware of their idyll which will face unforeseen difficulties.

Drunk, serious candidate

Another serious competitor in this category, the Danish film Drunk starring Mads Mikkelsen, known to the general public for having played the enemy of James Bond in Casino Royale (2006). In this provocative, bitter and funny feature film on alcohol, directed by Thomas Vinterberg, Mikkelsen embodies a teacher who brilliantly goes through all the stages of drunkenness as part of a supposedly scientific experiment with three friends.

Of them and Drunk will compete alongside the Ivorian film Twelfth Night, a fable set in the sinister Maca prison in Abidjan, and I’m not here anymore, a Netflix production defending Mexican cinema and featuring a group of teenage fans of Cumbia music.

Ladj Ly appointed last year

Last year, France was represented by Les Miserables by Ladj Ly. It was finally South Korea which had imposed itself with Parasite and had also won the supreme award for best film, a historic double. The country is absent this time from the pre-selection, where Southeast Asia is represented by Taiwan (To Sun) and Hong Kong (Better Days).

Guatemala, which has La Llorona, a modern reinterpretation of the terrifying creature of Latin American folklore against the backdrop of the massacre of the Mayan Indians by the country’s military, hopes to reach the nominations for the first time in its history, just like Romania and Tunisia which have crossed the course of the preselection. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Chile, the Czech Republic, Iran, Norway and Russia have also been selected at this stage. The Oscars ceremony, postponed due to the pandemic, will be held on April 25.