THE 25th EUROPEAN FILM AWARDS: WINNERS
The more than 2,700 members of the European Film Academy – filmmakers from across Europe – have voted for this year’s European Film Awards. At the awards ceremony in Berlin the following awards were presented:
EUROPEAN FILM 2012:
AMOUR
France / Germany / Austria, 127 min
Written & directed by Michael Haneke
produced by Margaret Menegoz, Stefan Arndt, Veit Heiduschka & Michael Katz
EUROPEAN DIRECTOR 2012:
Michael Haneke for AMOUR
EUROPEAN ACTRESS 2012:
Emmanuelle Riva in AMOUR
EUROPEAN ACTOR 2012:
Jean-Louis Trintignant in AMOUR
The rest after the cut.
EUROPEAN SCREENWRITER 2012:
Tobias Lindholm & Thomas Vinterberg for JAGTEN (The Hunt)
CARLO DI PALMA EUROPEAN CINEMATOGRAPHER AWARD 2012:
Sean Bobbitt for SHAME
EUROPEAN EDITOR 2012:
Joe Walker for SHAME
EUROPEAN PRODUCTION DESIGNER 2012:
Maria Djurkovic for TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY
EUROPEAN COMPOSER 2012:
Alberto Iglesias for TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY
EUROPEAN DISCOVERY 2012 – Prix FIPRESCI:
KAUWBOY by Boudewijn Koole (The Netherlands)
EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY DOCUMENTARY 2012:
HIVER NOMADE (Winter Nomads) by Manuel von Stürler (Switzerland)
EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY ANIMATED FEATURE FILM 2012:
ALOIS NEBEL by Tomáš Luňák (Czech Republic / Germany / Slovakia)
EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY SHORT FILM 2012:
SUPERMAN, SPIDERMAN OR BATMAN by Tudor Giurgiu, Romania
EUROPEAN CO-PRODUCTION AWARD 2012 – Prix EURIMAGES:
Helena Danielsson, Sweden
EUROPEAN ACHIEVEMENT IN WORLD CINEMA 2012:
Dame Helen Mirren, UK
EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD:
Bernardo Bertolucci, Italy
THE PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD 2012:
HASTA LA VISTA (Come As You Are)
directed by da Geoffrey Enthoven
Actually they can’t ignore Amour. It has gotten so much attention internationally and such critical acclaim for Riva and Trigtinant that the members of the Academy would have to be deaf, dumb and blind to have not heard, read, or seen something about the film. Amour has been on everyone lips since Cannes so why would you think the film community on whole in the US wouldn’t know about it? They may not do anything with the film but to say they don’t know anything about it is really a stretch.
@BettyP
“Anyone who is surprised by the solution of Amour, is probably also surprised that the witch in Snow White doesn’t win in the end”
Exactly, my dear, and that’s one of the beauties of Amour and Haneke, the (almost) complete extraction of every sentiment, melodrama, cliches and kitsch – ubiquitous little tools in the contemporary cinema for achieving certain uniform reaction and feedback (mostly financial) by the masses. Poisons that have been consuming my soul and intellect for so many years. Simply put, Haneke shows me that there are other ways and levels to connect a certain story, certain character with the audiences. And, after all, everyone is granted with the right to their own opinion, so i respect every point that you’re making.
“They can ignore Amour.”
Well, they can ignore it, sure. But the question is, will they? Because for every Stephen Holt who claims Amour isn’t being watched by the Academy, you have a Nat Rogers from The Film Experience who claims the vibe he’s getting from the AMPAS voters he’s spoken to is that they’re pretty bullish about Riva and that she has a good chance of getting nominated. And Nicole Kidman sang out the praises of the movie and Riva in an interview a couple of days ago.
As Ryan has said, the Academy has 6000+ members. The idea that we can tell how they’re going to vote en masse after talking to a handful of voters is an exercise in futility. It’s gossipy fun, sure, but shouldn’t be taken as much more than that.
Plus, if people are arguing that Riva won’t get nominated because the movie isn’t Academy friendly, is Rust and Bone really that Academy friendly itself? Why, then, are so many people convinced Cotillard is in? As someone else mentioned on The Film Experience, if Cotillard gets nominated, it will be the first time in history a lead actress has gotten nominated for playing a character who spends so much of the movie trolling for dick on a cell phone! 🙂
They couldn’t ignore No Country for Old Men, though. Everyone was telling them that it was great, that the Coens were overdue etc. They voted for it because it was the frontrunner. It’s also one of the best Best Picture winners in recent years, so that’s no problem.
They can ignore Amour. Michael Haneke isn’t overdue because Oscar isn’t his game. They have other options – films which will depress them less, films with younger, sexier leads, films in English. Also, No Country didn’t make them feel like shit about dying, a pressing prospect for the majority of AMPAS members.
@ Stephen Holt,
you may be obsessed with Cotillard, but who else is? I’ve seen the film and it’s a good film, far away from being a great one. And Cotillard, while strong, doesn’t deliver a performance they can’t ignore. And what makes it easier to ignore her is her co-star who actually delivers THE performance of the film. I couldn’t take my eyes off him and I did care about his character. Cotillard felt like a supporting character, not a leading one. Riva – on the other hand – delivers a performance that’s painfully beautiful and yes, she would make the better story. She’s the star of Hiroshima Mon Amour and now decades later she gets the role of a lifetime. And critics will throw awards at her. I believe she’s going to win the NYFCC tomorrow.
And I’m tired of the whole ‘the Academy doesn’t watch this film’. Really? The same way there were talks in 2007 and 2008 that the Academy didn’t care much about No Country For Old Men?
“In terms of directing and writing, Amour is nothing more than a decent TV movie.”
-BettyP, December 2012
That’s some serious signature material, if AwardsDaily had that feature here and not just on the forums.
Sorry, just for the record, the Awards Ceremony was in Malta, not Berlin
In terms of directing and writing, Amour is nothing more than a decent TV movie. It didn’t deserve to win in Cannes (it might me be the most mediocre film that ever succeeded there – not worst (that would be The White Ribbon), but mediocre), it didn’t deserve to win the European Awards and it certainly does not deserve to win any further awards. This continuing hailing of one of the world’s most limited directors is baffling. Haneke has never done anything special, but because he always talks about his great importance and his very special way of approaching subjects no one else dares to touch he has created the myth of Haneke the artist. He also pretends to leave the interpretation to the audience, but in fact I can’t think of any other director who is so insultingly manipulative. Anyone who is surprised by the solution of Amour, is probably also surprised that the witch in Snow White doesn’t win in the end.
The only thing in Amour that is even worth mentioning are the performances by Riva and Trintignant (anyone else, including Huppert, has nothing do). But it would be wrong to attribute the extraordinary achievements by a very underrated actress and one of the best actors in the history of the cinema to its director – in my opinion, he limits their range which prevents them from letting their characters come alive. Which is no surprise, as Haneke has a long history of degrading his actors to run-by-the-mill-performances with just a few exceptions (newcomers like Friedel and Benesch in The White Ribbon, Giering in Funny Games) or casting them in roles they have played many times before (like Huppert in The Piano Teacher or Klaußner, Tukur, Bierbichler, Lothar, Kühnert, Buck – in fact, almost everybody in The White Ribbon).
Haneke is nothing more than an unsubtle, boring loudmouth who somehow succeeded in proclaiming himself an artist. That Amour is not as cold and repellent as the rest of his work should not be a reason to give him any kind of award.
Look, I love Amour, and I think Trintignant has given the best lead actor performance of the year for me, along with Lavant. However, the common decency in me wishes Mikkelsen had won. This film needs more love for Christ’s sake.
And Haneke must be at least on the radar again for a Best Director nom? I know the funhouse has had a great year and there are plenty to choose from…but seriously there’s Haneke, Carax, Anderson….daylight….and then…
About this Cotillard/Riva/Loren thing, I don’t think one can compare A Special Day’s success with the Academy. At the time, that film’s leads were international crossover stars — especially Loren, an Oscar winner — and Italian films were quite in vogue at the time. Amour sounds like more difficult material. On the other hand, though, the demographics of today’s Academy is more international, and if the acting and script are strong enough to appeal to the actors branch, the film has a chance of breaking out of the foreign film niche. Having a fan like Nicole Kidman can help, just as Bardem’s last lead nomination benefited from lobbying by – who was it? – Julia Roberts?
@Stepna Holt-I wasn’t impressed with Marion’s performance at all. She is playing the cheapest, laziest cliche in the Hollywood grand book of cliches: a tragically disabled woman who heroically rediscovers the will to live, etc. How many times do we need to reward this type of gimmicky role? Let’s do something innovative for a change and not give awards to actresses who play these same weak. manipulative roles.
Even in such a strong year, I really think Amour is going to go the distance and score major nominations, such as actress, screenplay, maybe even director. I suspect it’s a film to which a good portion of the Academy will respond with admiration and emotion. There is just such universal praise for this film.
Rust and Bone was amazing, I have to wait till january 30th to see Amour..boohoo
I just hope the Academy Awards don’t forget TABU as the EFA did…
@Stephen how is “Marion Cotillard so strongly in play” over Armour? Armour and Riva keep winning award over award. What has Rust and Bone won? What has Cotillard won apart from studio bought “honors”. A pretty face and campaigning like there is no tomorrow is not going to help her if Riva keeps winning. Sure Rust and Bone has naked Cotillard for voters to get off on but how many are going to watch the whole movie? I’m putting my money on Riva to win this match.
Remember, it’s almost an Oscar curse to win a European Film Award. Almost every single winner is neglected by the Oscars. Even English language film – remember, The Ghost Writer swept with the highest number of wins in European Film Award history … and then didn’t get a single Oscar nomination. Same with every award von Trier has won as a director of for Best Picture. Even the foreign language winners don’t fare well with the Academy. Winners of the big awards in the latest years include Melancholia, Tilda Swinton, The White Ribbon, A Prophet, Gomorra, Kristen Scott Thomas, 4 Months 3 Weeks and 2 Days. In these years, The King’s Speech, The Artist and Slumdog Millionaire failed to win Best Picture at the European Film Awards.
You have to go back to the film year 2006 to find one of the big winners, The Lives of Others, that was embraced by the Oscars as well.
Bottom line: European Film Awards is the LAST place to look for an Oscar precurser.
Cesar the same kind of thing happened in 1977 when Ettore Scola directed a small little Italian Film called A Special Day.
It was written specifically for Mastroianni and Loren. Both gave incredible performances in a film where it was really only about the two. When the Oscar Nominations came out Mastrioanni got a nod for Best Actor and Loren didn’t make the cut. The reason was that the Actress category was really pretty tight and all came from very successful American films. Of course I would have canned the Anne Bancroft nomination for Loren but that’s my opinion. Bancroft performance was really supporting and not lead but that’s just quibbling and I personally admire Bancroft anyway.
The same kind of situation this year in the Actor Category. The Best Actor category is stuffed with potential nominees performing in “English”. In 1977 the Best Acress category was stuffed with potential nominees performing in “English”. Now I ” ” english on purpose because to me the quality of performance knows no language barrier but one also has to deal with reality. Trintignant may very well win some Critics awards but I doubt that’s gonna happen either. This year in my opinion the Best Actress category isn’t the tight race as it is with their male counterparts and Riva could easily fit in there.
The next two weeks with the critics awards will probably elevate her chances. I’m counting on her pulling it off.
I think there is currently way too much conversation about Amour for anyone to notice that this happens every year. Pre-season, there’s always at least one critically acclaimed, independent film beloved by arthouse audiences that picks up buzz, only to lose it all when it becomes clear that the industry has its own agenda.
Stephen’s right about Amour, I think. I’d bet that, of those few Academy members who have even watched it, most have turned it off well before the end. Reminds me of their attitude towards Shame last year. They won’t watch it and they won’t enjoy it.
I think there has been way too much conversation about Amour and Rust and Bone for anyone to ignore either film. Like the Academy or not they are certainly not all buffoons and there are great many international artists who are members. So I hardly doubt they will be ignoring either film. What was nice about the Euro awards was the inclusion of Jean Louis Trintignant. Step by step Riva is getting closer to that Oscar Nom.
The show had some nice moments:
– Mirren talking about watching her first arthouse film ‘L’avventura’ in an english porn cinema and declaring herself a f*** whore
– People’s Choice Award winner for Hasta la vista made a proposal to his fiancée (she said yes)
– The “poor” Spaniard Sergi López take care of himself at the buffet
– Trintignant and Riva were absent – he played theatre, she’s seems very ill to date declared Amour-producer Menegoz. I hope she recovers soon. Please no posthumous accolades.
– Nice presentation of German host Anke Engelke like the year’s before
Am I the only one who thinks it’s unfair, to predict Riva and not Trintignant? Haneke has written his script with Trintignant in his mind and his performance is so subtle. The film wouldn’t be made without Trintignant. And now he is only the also-ran and Riva in the lead – for a supporting part. It’s not fair.
Not enough love for A Royal Affair methinks 🙁
“Amour” is a great, powerful film. But it’s not being watched by the Academy, who has to nominate it in other categories than Foreign Film.
The Foreign Film has a separate group who sees the foreign films and then nominates them. The entire voting body does not.
And with Marion Cotillard so strongly in play for “Rust and Bone” and From the SAME DISTRIBUTOR, Sony Pictures Classics….I just don’t think they are going to nominate two actresses acting in their own language, French.
And Marion is really campaigning and her performance is far and way the better one between Jennifer Lawrence’s sex-addict, TIffany, and Marion’s recovering paraplegic Stephenie.
Why are they shying away from watching “Amour”? For the 80 year old average academy member it just cuts to close to the bone.
Obviously, Europeans do not shy away from stark material about death. Americans do.
Amour” is a great, powerful film. But it’s not being watched by the Academy.
Stephen, I really wish you would cease claiming to be such close pals with all 6000 Academy members that they all notify you of their feelings about every actor and every movie.
You cannot possibly know which movies the Academy is watching.
Yesterday I read an interview with Nicole Kidman, and she gave a shout-out to Amour (a movie she loves) and Riva. Would AMPAS please listen to Nicole?
Hell Yea! AMOUR is coming along in full effect yo!!!
Amour (which I’ll undoubtedly love), The Hunt (which I’ll probably love), Shame and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (which I still love), Kauwboy (which I rather liked), Helen Mirren and Bernardo Bertolucci!
Merci, danke, gracias, grazie EFA!
His third win. Well done. If he can pull that off, who else could? Well, maybe … 😉
Terrific. I hope Amour gets some serious Oscar love this year – director, actress and maybe something else would be terrific.
Big congrats to Amour – it’s looking like Austria might be on the fast track for another FLF (and Riva had better get a nom for best actress).
It’s also nice to see somebody else noticed the cinematography and editing of last year’s Shame.