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While 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)
Three of the nominees (Audiard, Resnais and Giannoli) hail from this year’s Cannes competition — perhaps unsurprisingly, given that the festival’s chief, Gilles Jacob, heads the Delluc jury.
Of the eight, I’ve only seen Audiard’s and Dumont’s films, both of which impressed me (albeit to slightly different degrees) at the London Film Festival last month. Meanwhile, the Resnais and Miller films are near the top of my most-anticipated list. As for Honoré, whose “La Belle Personne” was one of the year’s hidden gems, I wasn’t even aware he already had a new film out.
I’m both surprised and disappointed to see Claire Denis missing from the list, but then, the Delluc often marches to its own beat. Just last year, they served up a real upset when Raymond Depardon’s agriculture documentary “Modern Life” beat the likes of “The Class,” “Summer Hours” and “A Christmas Tale” to the gold.
This year’s winner will be revealed on December 11.
6 responses so far
1 11-26-2009 at 4:58 pm
Michael said...
I love all these prolific french filmmakers like Dumont and Honore, etc. b/c they are always making new movies and they are usually so good! I know I will never be able to catch up on my french cinema but it will be fun to try. I hope most of these come out to theaters in the USA eventually.
2 11-26-2009 at 10:23 pm
Matt King said...
Still haven’t been able to catch “La Belle Personne,” but have been really wanting to. Quite enjoyed “Dans Paris” and “Les Chansons d’Amour.”
3 11-27-2009 at 7:42 am
Michael Sicinskki said...
WELCOME can be caught intermittently on cable if you happen to have the TV5 US channel. Worth a look, given that it’s a finalist with the most limited North American festival profile.
4 11-27-2009 at 8:02 am
red_wine said...
Modern Life was definitely a surprising choice. I first heard of it when Cahiers Du Cinema included it in its Top 10 Best Directed films of 2008(at no. 9).
Wild Grass seems to be getting a lot praise, so maybe that’ll win because A Prophet might be too predictable for this bunch.
In other foreign language news, Hollywood Reported have also released a Decade Top 10.
http://reporter.blogs.com/best_of_2000s/10-the-white-ribbon.html
Haneke makes a killing with 2 films in the Top 10 included The White Ribbon!
5 11-28-2009 at 2:22 pm
Marvin said...
Has Ozon ever won this prize?
6 11-28-2009 at 2:44 pm
Guy Lodge said...
No, he hasn’t.