Oscars 2022: the remake of The Bélier Family Best Film, Will Smith and Jane Campion rewarded

The expected revolution in Hollywood has taken place! Because, for the first time in the history of the ceremony, a platform offered itself the Oscar for Best Film. But not the one everyone thought. Favorite thanks to the twelve nominations of The Power of the Dog, Netflix was indeed defeated by the faultless Apple TV+ and CODA.

Nominated three times, the American remake of The Bélier Family left this 94th edition with as many trophies: those for Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Troy Kotsur and Best Film.

In addition to its business aspect, the victory of Siân Heder’s feature film is also historic in terms of the representation of hearing-impaired people, and disabilities in general, in fiction.

And this in line with the nominations received by Sound of Metal last year, or the character played by Lauren Ridloff in the Marvel blockbuster The Eternals. Troy Kotsur thus became the second deaf performer to win an Oscar, thirty-five years after Marlee Matlin, his partner in CODA, crowned Best Actress for Les Enfants du silence in 1987.

Co-produced by France, CODA is the first remake to triumph at the Oscars since The Infiltrators by Martin Scorsese. And his coronation, which seemed surprising (even improbable) when the nominations were announced, was not so much so at the dawn of the ceremony.

By winning the Producers Guild of America Award, presented by the producers’ unions, a few days ago, the outsider signed Siân Heder had turned into a favorite, because seven of the last ten winners had then won the coveted golden statuette.

THE OSCARS IN REPRESENTATION

Favorite in the number of nominations, The Power of the Dog just missed leaving empty-handed. But the only Oscar he wins is nothing of the consolation prize since Jane Campion became the third woman to receive the trophy for Best Director. She succeeds Kathryn Bigelow (Minesweepers) and Chloé Zhao (Nomadland) who, unlike her, went on to win the Best Film prize. Which was still given to a feature film directed by a woman for the third time, only, in the history of the ceremony.

Even before the final triumph of CODA, or that of Jane Campion, performance was already the watchword of this 94th edition. Like Rita Moreno sixty years ago, Ariana DeBose won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her flamboyant performance as Anita in Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story. A prize, the only one for the other favorite on paper, which makes her the second Latin American actress to be crowned, and the first openly queer woman of color.

“To all those who have questioned their identity and found themselves in gray areas, I promise you: there is a place for us”declared Ariana DeBose on stage, during a speech that is reminiscent of the way in which Julia Ducournau thanked the Cannes Film Festival for “let the monsters in” after its Palme d’Or for Titanium.

WILL SMITH: A SLAP AND AN OSCAR

And then Will Smith became the fifth black comedian to win the Oscar for Best Actor, after Sidney Poitier, Denzel Washington, Jamie Foxx and Forest Whitaker. Twenty years after his first nomination, for Ali, the third will have been good for the star, rewarded for his performance as Richard Williams, father of tennis players Venus and Serena, in The Williams Method. But his triumph and his tears risk taking a back seat.

Because Will Smith had shown himself shortly before by going on stage to slap Chris Rock after a joke in bad taste on his companion Jada Pinkett Smith. A scene which cast a chill all the more because it was not a happening prepared in advance, which is confirmed in particular by the fact that the victim thought of filing a complaint before retracting, or this tweet through which the Academy “does not excuse violence in any form”.

Without quoting anyone, of course, but was it necessary to specify what everyone had understood, when the main interested party obviously did not participate in the traditional photo shoot of the winners?

AND SIX FOR DUNE!

Elsewhere on the roster, Jessica Chastain won the Oscar for Best Actress with In the Eyes of Tammy Faye (also winner in the Makeup and Hairstyle category), while Dune, like Mad Max Fury Road in 2016, stands out as the big winner of the evening in terms of the number of statuettes.

Absent from the nominees for Best Director, Denis Villeneuve’s film won six technical trophies, including those for Best Cinematography, Best Visual Effects, Best Editing and Best Original Music for Hans Zimmer (his second Oscar in twelve nominations, after that of the Lion King).

ZACK SNYDER STRONGER THAN MARVEL

And while Belfast offered Kenneth Branagh his first Oscar (that of Best Original Screenplay), that Drive My Car won that of Best Foreign Language Film or that Encanto allowed Disney (excluding Pixar) to invite itself to the list of Best Animation Film for the fourth time since the creation of the prize in 2002, the big surprise came from the novelty of this edition.

For the first time, the vote was open to the public in order to award a trophy to the feature film receiving the most votes. While the rereading of Cinderella was in the lead, in front of the obvious favorite that was Spider-Man No Way Home, a few days before the closing of the votes, it is finally… Army of the Dead by Zack Snyder who wins . And allows Netflix, in a way, to walk away with an Oscar for Best Picture. But not the one we expected.

OSCARS 2022: THE COMPLETE WINNERS

BEST FILM : CODA

Also named were:

“CODA”, big winner of these 94th Oscars, to see on Apple TV+:

BEST ACTRESS: Jessica Chastain – In the eyes of Tammy Faye

Also named were:

BEST ACTOR : Will Smith – The Williams Method

Also named were:

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Ariana DeBose – West Side Story

Also named were:

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE: Troy Kotsur – CODA

Also named were:

BEST ACHIEVEMENT: Jane Campion – The Power of the Dog

Also named were:

Jane Campion, third Oscar-winning director, thanks to “The Power of the Dog”:

BEST ANIMATED FILM: Encanto

Also named were:

BEST ADAPTED SCENARIO: CODA- Sian Heder

Also named were:

BEST ORIGINAL SCENARIO: Belfast- Kenneth Branagh

Also named were:

BEST PHOTOGRAPHY: Dune – Greig Fraser

Also named were:

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: Drive My Car (Japan)

Also named were:

BEST EDITING: Dunes

Also named were:

• Don’t Look Up
• The Williams Method
• The Power of the Dog
• Tick, Tick… Boom!

BEST SET: Dunes

Also named were:

• Nightmare Alley
• The Power of the Dog
• The Tragedy of Macbeth
• West Side Story

BEST COSTUMES: cruella

Also named were:

• Cyrano
• Dunes
• Nightmare Alley
• West Side Story

BEST MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLES: In the eyes of Tammy Faye

Also named were:

BEST ORIGINAL MUSIC: Hans Zimmer – Dunes

Also named were:

BEST SONG : Dying can wait – “No Time To Die”

Also named were:

• Belfast- “Down to Joy”
• Encanto – “Dos Oruguitas”
• Four Good Days – “Somehow You Do”
• The Williams Method – “Be Alive”

BEST SOUND: Dunes

Also named were:

• Belfast
• Dying can wait
• The Power of the Dog
• West Side Story

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS: Dunes

Also named were:

AUDIENCE OSCAR: Army of the Dead

The film imposes itself in front of:

• Cinderella
• Minamata
• Spider-Man No Way Home
• Tick, Tick… ​​Boom!

BEST DOCUMENTARY: summer of soul

Also named were:

BEST SHORT DOCUMENTARY: The Queen of Basketball

Also named were:

BEST ANIMATED SHORT: The Windshield Wiper

Also named were:

BEST SHORT FILM: The Long Goodbye

Also named were:

• Ala Kachuu – Take and Run
• The Dress
• On My Mind
• Please Hold