European Film Prize Winners Announced

Cinema Award

The European cinema prizes awarded annually by the EuroAcademy were presented in Berlin: the two main ones went to Denmark. The intrigue of the competition was the confrontation between two films from this country. Lars von Trier's "Melancholia" was recognized as the European film of the year, and his compatriot Susanne Bier, director of the film "Revenge", was recognized as the European director of the year. ANDREY PLAKHOV comments.

Despite the lamentations about the decline of European cinema (in the context of the decline of Europe itself), this year it was presented quite worthy. Among the nominees were such famous directors as Aki Kaurismäki and Bela Tarr with their new wonderful works (they, however, were left without awards), as well as brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, whose “Boy with a Bicycle” was awarded the prize for best screenplay . Moreover, the competition included “The King’s Speech!” Tom Hooper, a favorite in last year's Oscar race, and Michel Hazanavicius's The Artist, which recently received a shower of prizes from American film critics. But in Europe, “The Artist” was awarded only for music, and “The King” - apparently considering that it was already in gold and, moreover, not entirely European - was limited to prizes for best editing and best actor: naturally, it was Colin Firth . His strongest rival on the list of nominees was Michel Piccoli from the film “We Have a Pope,” but the French veteran was actually removed from the competition, awarded a special prize for his contribution to cinema.

A sensation was the decision of the European academicians to give the most important award to Lars von Trier, who, despite his mature age, still acts as an incorrigible enfant terrible of the European film establishment. This year, he distinguished himself in Cannes with scandalous remarks at a press conference, which were interpreted as an expression of sympathy for Nazism, and received the title of persona non grata. In France, a criminal case was even opened against him; in response, he called the French “real Nazis.” The Danish director is now trying not to appear in public at all, so as not to blurt out something indecent again; he also did not appear at the Europrize ceremony (the award was accepted by his wife Bente Froge). Perhaps it was his absence that suited the European Film Academy, which decided to show nobility and support the stumbling genius. In addition to the title of best film of the year, Melancholia received prizes for the work of the cameraman and artist.

The piquancy of the situation is that the second most important award - "European Director of the Year" - was grabbed by Suzanne Bier, the same compatriot of Trier who became the object of one of his polycorrect remarks ("I'm not against Jews, but when I met Suzanne Bier... "). Trier, of course, said too much, but his irritation is understandable. The director, who raised the Danish film kingdom on his shoulders and made it one of the most powerful in Europe, is discriminated against overseas: his films are not shown in America and are not nominated for an Oscar. But Suzanne Bier is making a successful career there, and the correct, politically correct and completely mediocre “Revenge” is rewarded with an Oscar as the best foreign film.

With their Solomonic decision, European academics want to say: we are for high art, therefore we are awarding “Melancholia”. But we still do not forgive Trier for his antics and so, in defiance of him, we appoint the insulted Susanne Bier as the best director. This combination looks simply funny, because Trier, Kaurismäki, Tarr and Dardenne met in the director's nomination. Suzanne Bier's victory over them all can convince only those who love intrigue, not art.

Against this background, the distribution of other awards no longer seems fundamentally important, although it also reveals, to put it mildly, controversial decisions, and even obvious absurdities. Thus, Tilda Swinton was chosen as the actress of the year for her role as the unhappy mother of a juvenile delinquent in the film “There’s Something Wrong with Kevin.” Unable to act badly, the British actress repeats techniques that have been practiced many times in much more organic incarnations. It must be said that all her competitors in this nomination - Kirsten Dunst and Charlotte Gainsbourg from "Melancholia", Cecile de France from "The Boy with a Bicycle" and Nadezhda Markina from "Elena" - played their roles more interesting.

In addition to Markina, Russia’s nomination included the documentary “Long Live the Antipodes!” Victor Kosakovsky. But here the award was almost predetermined: it was received by Wim Wenders, one of the founders of the EuroAcademy, for his most successful work of recent years - “Pina”.

EuroAcademy took revenge for "Melancholia"