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Tag: Louis Delluc Prize

  • Ruiz’s ‘Lisbon’ takes Louis Delluc prize

    Well, here’s an awards announcement a million miles away from “The Social Network” — the Louis Delluc Prize, the single most prestigious award in French cinema. (Yes, loftier than the César Awards.) And I do mean “single”: awarded to one film from a shortlist of eight by a jury of French journalists and industry types, it’s one of the simpler ceremonies on the block.

    While last year’s award went to the ubiquitous crossover hit “A Prophet,” this year’s jury (headed by Cannes festival president Gilles Jacob) threw a slight curveball: the award was handed this morning to Raul Ruiz’s epic Portuguese-French production “Mysteries of Lisbon,” a dreamy 272-minute period puzzle piece that I was thoroughly bewitched by at the London Film Festival. (Rebecca Zlotowski’s “Belle Epine” received debut filmmaker honors.)

    The film beat out one hell of a heavyweight shortlist, listed after the cut.

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  • ‘A Prophet’ takes Louis Delluc Prize

    Tahar Rahim in A ProphetTwo weeks ago, I mentioned the impressive shortlist of nominees for the Louis Delluc Prize, a prestigious juried award handed annually to the title thought to represent the best in French cinema. Variety has just reported that Jacques Audiard’s Oscar contender “A Prophet” is this year’s winner.

    The news isn’t entirely unsurprising — the Delluc sometimes sidelines obvious frontrunners in favor of more hidden gems, as was the case last year, when “The Class” lost to documentary “Modern Life.”

    Not so this time — indeed, Audiard’s film has barely missed an awards opportunity since taking silver at Cannes. It also looks a good bet to take home some hardware at tomorrow’s European Film Awards … could the Oscar even be within reach?

    Meanwhile, another prison-related drama, Lea Fehner’s “Silent Voice,” took the Best First Film award.

  • French masters vie for Louis Delluc Prize

    Wild GrassWhile I was away in Paris earlier this week, I was reminded there of the nominations for the Louis Delluc Prize. Awarded to a single title, it is arguably the most prestigious award in French cinema, having been won by such titans as Truffaut, Renoir, Chabrol, Malle, Bresson, Cocteau, Tati … well, you get the idea.

    Meanwhile, some formidable auteurs feature in this year’s shortlist, including past three-time winner Alain Resnais and, of course, current Oscar player Jacques Audiard. The eight nominees are:

    “Hadewijch” (Bruno Dumont)
    “I’m Glad That My Mother Is Alive” (Claude and Nathan Miller)
    “In the Beginning”     (Xavier Giannoli)
    “Irene” (Alain Cavalier)
    “Making Plans for Lena” (Christophe Honoré)
    “A Prophet” (Jacques Audiard)
    “Welcome” (Philippe Lioret)
    “Wild Grass” (Alain Resnais)

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  • ‘The Class’ heads Louis Delluc shortlist

    The Cesar may be the most internationally recognised award for French cinema, but the Louis Delluc Prize is arguably the most prestigious. Now in its 73rd year, the prize is awarded annually to a single film deemed by a select jury to represent the year’s finest achievement in French filmmaking.

    Previous winners include Cocteau’s “Beauty and the Beast,” “Les Diaboliques,” “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg” and “Au Revoir, Les Enfants,” so you have an idea of the level of prestige we’re talking about here. In recent years, they have commendably tended to favour underdogs — choosing “Intimacy” over “Amelie” in 2001, for example, or last year selecting “Couscous (Le Graine et le Mulet)” over “La Vie en Rose” or “Love Songs.”

    Now, they have announced their shortlist of seven films vying for this year’s prize. The three most high-profile titles on the list are, obviously, Laurent Cantet’s Oscar frontrunner “The Class,” Olivier Assayas’ delightful “Summer Hours” and Arnaud Desplechin’s “A Christmas Tale.” (Desplechin won the 2004 Delluc for “Kings and Queen.”) All, I think, are wonderful films — “The Class,” in particular, grows richer and deeper the more I think about it.

    Rounding out the list are “La Vie Moderne,” “Seraphine,” “Le Premiere Venu” and “Dernier Maquis,” while their Best First Film award will be fought between “Versailles,” “Le Tueur” and actress Sandrine Bonnaire’s highly personal documentary “Her Name is Sabine” — which I caught on TV the other day and was thoroughly moved by.

    I’m very surprised at the omission of “I’ve Loved You So Long” — still my favourite film of the year to date — from either list, but you can’t have everything.