Justine Triet’s psychothriller was shut out by France’s Oscar committee, but this genre-bending courtroom procedural, marriage drama and whodunnit feels totally new
Oscar season rings in the annual cycle of gossip, debate and speculation about disputed nominations and conspicuous snubs, and this year one major story concerns the case of France fumbling the bag. Anatomy of a Fall, a courtroom thriller about a writer suspected of murdering her husband, took Cannes by storm last summer to win the Palme d’Or – making director Justine Triet the third woman to win the festival’s top prize in its 76-year history – before becoming a box office hit in France. It was, in the words of the Hollywood Reporter, “one of the rare movies which checked all the boxes for a strong Oscar entry: not only was it a critical darling that resonates with wide audiences, it’s distributed by [prestigious US film company] Neon, which shepherded Parasite to a best picture win.”
Though when the time came for France’s Oscar committee to select the film that would represent the country in the best international feature category, they opted instead for The Taste of Things, a slow-burning period romance that doubles as a love letter to food. Trying to objectively compare works of art can be a fool’s game: The Taste of Things film-maker Tran Anh Hung was named best director at Cannes, and critics have praised its expertly choreographed sequences and heartfelt storytelling. But the choice came as a surprise in the industry, seen as an instance of France’s old guard shutting out the new. There were rumours that Triet angered ministers with her acceptance speech at Cannes, in which she criticised Emmanuel Macron’s “neoliberal government” and its “commercialisation of culture”. In any case, The Taste of Things did not get an Oscar nomination, Anatomy of a Fall received five, leading to questions in France about why they lost their best chance to win their first Oscar for best international feature since 1992’s Indochine.
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