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French director Ladj Ly, 40, is among Les Misérables among the nominees for the next Oscars in the Best Foreign Film category. The names of the winners will be announced on February 9 at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles.
With his selection for the Oscars final, the French director Ladj Ly has certainly exceeded his childhood dreams. The one who spent his youth in Clichy-Montfermeil, where Victor Hugo located part of his Miserables , finds himself today projected in the arena of Hollywood stars. With his first feature film Les Misérables , this French of Malian origin comes much more than renewing the genre of suburban films. With the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival and already 1.8 million admissions accumulated, he now embodies a star to which all children in difficult neighborhoods can hang on.
Ladj Ly's film will thus face the best films in the world including Pain and Glory , by Pedro Almodovar, but also Parasite , Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Very focused on the scandalous cleavage between rich and poor in today's societies, the film by director Bong Joon-ho has already won the Best Foreign Language Film award at the Golden Globes, and has brought in, to date, 130 million dollars.
Another French pride: the composer Alexandre Desplat - already twice an Oscar winner - will be in the running for the music for Docteur March's Four Daughters.
Still very little diversity
Contrary to expectations, the Academy of Oscars failed to find better representation of women and minorities this year. In the middle of the Weinstein trial, the legal continuation of the #MeToo scandal, the Hollywood showcase is however aware of being scrutinized very closely. However, no woman is among the nominees in the Best Director category; and only one is in the queen category of Best Film: Greta Gerwig, director of The Four Daughters of Doctor March .
British actress Cynthia Erivo, 33, is among the nominees in the Best Actress category for her role in Harriet , by Kasi Lemmons, an American biographical film about a slave who became abolitionist in the 19th century. On the other hand, as a daughter born to Nigerian parents, she is the only representative of diversity on the list of nominees as Best actor or Best actress in a first or secondary role. In other words, the #OscarsSoWhite movement, launched in 2016, has a very good chance of being revived.
Joker , the big favorite with eleven nominations
This year, among the big favorites in the Best Film category is Once Upon A Time… in Hollywood , by Quentin Tarantino, with his trio of very glamorous actors: Brad Pitt, Leonardo CiCaprio and Margot Robbie. But also the drama 1917 , by Sam Mendes, a very original war film, shot entirely in sequence, also endowed with ten nominations. By his side, Joker , of Todd Philips, winner of the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, leads the race for the Oscars with eleven nominations in total. Its main actor, Joaquin Phoenix, can also claim the trophy for best actor for his incredible performance.
With ten Oscar nominations, Martin Scorsese, left empty-handed with The Irishman of the Golden Globes, can continue to hope for his film distributed on Netflix. Beyond that, the streaming platform will also be present on February 9 at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles with Marriage Story , the dramatic comedy by Noah Baumbach.
■ The nominees in the Best Foreign Film category:
- Communion (Corpus Christi) , by Jan Komasa (Poland)
- Pain and Glory , by Pedro Almodovar (Spain)
- Honeyland , by Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov (North Macedonia)
- Parasite , from Bong Joon-ho (South Korea)
- Les Misérables , by Ladj Ly (France)