Sony Pictures Classics
Karl Markovics (left) and Dolores Chaplin in "The Counterfeiters."
I've been keeping close track, and I will now be the 358th member of the commentariat, thus far in 2008, to observe that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is hopelessly screwed up when it comes to honoring foreign films. Even judging by the checkered history of the foreign-language Oscars (which I've discussed here and here), this year has been peculiar. Let's review, if we can.
"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly," the most celebrated French import of the year, isn't nominated, and that isn't exactly the Academy's fault. It wasn't France's official selection, and neither were the other art-house faves "La Vie en Rose" or "Lady Chatterley." Possibly the Parisian authorities were reluctant to nominate a film made by an American (Julian Schnabel, the director of "Diving Bell") so instead they nominated an animated film made by an Iranian (cartoonist Marjane Satrapi, the author and co-director of "Persepolis"). Which didn't end up getting nominated, or even reaching the semifinal group of nine films. That part kind of is the Academy's fault.