It is “Emilia Perez”, by Jacques Audiard, who will represent France

The members of the CNC commission have decided: the latest feature film from the director of “A Prophet” will represent France next March in the category of best international film.

Emilia perez was among the favorites to represent France at the Oscars in March 2025. As we predicted, Jacques Audiard’s film will indeed be the French candidate in the race for the Oscar for best international film, the National Center for Cinema and the Moving Image (CNC) announced on Wednesday, September 18. Emilia Perez was preferred to Count of Monte Cristo, has Mercy and to All We Imagine by Light by the majority of the members of the committee responsible for this selection, at the end of a day of auditions of the producers, international sellers and, in certain cases, the American distributors of the four finalist films.

A logical choice, because the feminist and progressive themes of this “trans” musical comedy, which won two awards at the last Cannes Film Festival (Jury Prize and Collective Award for Best Actress), its cast of American stars (Zoe Saldaña and Selena Gomez), not to mention the marketing clout of Netflix (which acquired the distribution rights to the film in the United States) are serious assets to seduce Oscar voters. Enough to hope for a better result than at the 2024 edition, where The Passion of Dodin Bouffantretained despite common sense to the detriment ofAnatomy of a fallhad not even reached the nominations milestone.

A major campaign for Monte-Cristo

Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de La Patellière, the directors of Count of Monte Cristo, will be able to console themselves with the announced support of their American distributor Samuel Goldwyn Films which, according to Variety, is planning a major Oscar campaign for the blockbuster adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’ classic, even hoping to compete in the top category of best picture. And while the competition is definitely over for Mercy, Alain Guiraudie’s amazing crime comedy (to be discovered in French cinemas from October 16), All We Imagine as Light could be selected because of his “dual nationality”: India, which has not yet made its choice, could designate Payal Kapadia’s first feature-length fiction film, shot in Hindi in Mumbai, to represent her.

On December 17, Jacques Audiard will know if Emilia Perez is one of fifteen semi-finalists selected by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for the Oscar for Best International Feature Film. The competition will be tough with, among others, Seeds of the wild fig tree, by Mohammad Rasoulof (representing Germany), Dahomey, by Mati Diop (for Senegal) or even Everybody Loves Touda, by Nabil Ayouch (Morocco). The list of five finalists will be announced on January 17, 2025, along with the nominees in all other categories. And the winner will be announced at the 97th Academy Awards on March 2, 2025.