What will Spain submit to the Oscars?
Wednesday, September 15, 2021 at 11:30AM by Nathaniel R
Spain, which is Oscar's third favourite country (statistically speaking) in the Best International Feature Film race, will announce their submission on October 5th. In the meantime they have released the names of the three films that they are considering. It's Pedro Almodóvar's melodrama Parallel Mothers versus Fernando León de Aranoa's comedy The Good Boss versus Marcel Barrena's adventure film Mediterráneo. All three of the films are slated for October release in Spain so we don't yet know how the "home team" will react to them. Still this trio of possibilities is interesting for a few fun triva reasons...
Javier Bardem is "The Good Boss"
You may recall that Fernando León de Aranoa got the submission in 2002 for the Javier Bardem led drama Mondays in the Sun, his only time competing for the Oscars. But this decision infamously blocked Almodóvar's Talk to Her its Best Foreign Language Film Oscar statue (we all know that the latter would have easily won in its year). Now the two filmmakers are in competition again. What's more Javier Bardem is Fernando's star again for a film that's up against the Almodóvar. Though Bardem is a global star and married to Pedro's favourite actress curiously he himself has only worked with the auteur twice, once in small role in High Heels (1991) and once in a lead role in Live Flesh (1998) which co-starred his future wife though they didn't share any scenes (Penélope Cruz was only in the film's prologue).
Almodóvar is inarguably Spain's most successful filmmaker globally but they don't submit him every time he makes a film. Parallel Mothers (which both Elisa and I reviewed at Venice) might seem like the frontrunner but it's also political and critical of Spain so it will surely have at least some vocal detractors back home. Almodovar currently holds the record of most submissions for a director from Spain (7 of his previous 21 pictures were sent by Spain) though the director Jose Luis Garci had more Oscar success in this regard achieving 4 nominated and 1 winning film in this category (to Pedro's 3/1) from his 6 submissions. Jose Luis Garci won the category for 1982's Volver a Empezar and Almodóvar won for 1999's All About My Mother.
The cast of "Mediterráneo"
Marcel Barrena is a fairly new filmmaker so he has never been submitted (this is only his second narrative feature) but curiously Mediterraneo is already the name of an Oscar-winner in this particular category (Italy's 1991 submission).
Which film do you think it will be?
Reader Comments (11)
I think Parallel Mothers should be nominated. Much like with Antonio, the film has buzz for the actor and a Best Foreign Language film nomination could help her out a lot. I get the sense that foreign countries enjoy not only having their films in the best international feature category, but also seeing their stars nominated and win too. Having the film in this race helps Penelope build buzz and helps with the arthouse box office that's going to matter for this film stateside.
I also suspect that Almodovar has been on the cusp of getting a film into Best Picture a few times. I'm not sure if this is the one, especially after the Pain and Glory snub, but it could happen. But I think being the International Feature race can help it.
I still find it doubtful that Penélope Cruz might get nominated. Not only is there the language barrier that AMPAS voters have a hard time getting over, but there's also the fact that she doesn't solely carry the movie. Most of the time, when actors are nominated for foreign language performances, they are clearly front and center of their movie but that doesn't seem to be the case with Cruz. I haven't seen the movie, so take that into account, but my understanding is that Cruz has to share leading duties with another actress.
Back in 2002's race, I openly doubted that Talk to Her would be submitted, despite my claims that it was the Original Screenplay frontrunner and a likely nominee for Directing. It did not shock me at all, that Mondays in the Sun got the ticket (as it also defeated Talk to Her at the Goyas, undeservingly).
In this race, it's similar. I think Parallel Mothers is unlikely to get the ticket. Politics are going to be huge on this.
The HUGE conservative branch of the Spanish Academy will NOT vote for a movie that talks about the unpunished crimes during Franco regime, specially if it is directed by Almodovar, who they have a love/hate relationship with, and also had recent Goya success with Pain and Glory. So, they have two options.
The Good Boss is by a well know left-sided politically director, Mondays in the Sun's Aranoa. So he is unlikely, really unlikely, to collect the hate votes.
Mediterraneo on the other hand, kind of the more mainstream middle point... it deals on a positive note with an important subject, and most importantly, it is a pat in the back to the spaniard ego, portraying the starring bunch as heroes.
So, my bet is... 1. Mediterraneo 2. The Good Boss 3. Parallel Mothers.
Spain choosing that dreary film over Talk to Her was truly baffling, and a good lesson to me in my second year of Oscar obsessing that injustice is everywhere!
@Joe G.
If expanded field, I think Almodovar would have earned Best Picture nominations (10 slots) with Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (probably close in the Director, Actress and Original Screenplay races), All about my mother (also Director, Actress, Original Screenplay, Score), Talk to Her (nominated for Director, winner of Original Screenplay, probably Score was also close, even Cinematography), Volver (Cruz was nominated, probably Director and Screenplay were also in the top 10 in votes) and Pain and Glory (Banderas nominated, and probably Original Screenplay and Director and Cruz were pretty close).
Almodovar is one of the selected filmmakers that Hollywood follows closely - and yearns to attract him into the studio system. Problem being, Almodovar owns his own studio.
Official Competition wasn't eligible?
ratednext -- i dont believe so, no. It isn't scheduled for release in Spain until 2022.
@Jesús Not sure I agree Volver would've made it into a 10-wide BP line-up (tho I think it should've!), consider it was infamously snubbed in the Foreign Language category.
Also on that topic... not sure I follow your comment about the "HUGE conservative branch" of the academy... while Spanish society is generally divided on the topic of what's referred to as 'historical memory' (which I think is what part of the plot in Madres Paralelas is about – haven't seen it yet, obvs), I would say that the Spanish academy is largely left-leaning. I guess it'd depend on how controversial the film's approach is, but I don't see the Academy shying away from awarding it (and/or submitting for the Oscars) over this, if it's good.
Carlos -- i'm with you on Volver. I'm not sure why people were resisting it at the time (there was resistance here in the US among critics and the academy) but i think it was a bit of taking Almodovar for granted since he'd been totally on fire and much-discussed for 7 years when that rolled around and sort of was the end of that HISTORIC run (obviously he's still amazing but that run from 1999-2006 is basically untoppable by any filmmaker)
@Carlos
I don't know if you are following the Goyas but yes, so many progresist and social conscious films end winning, from Los Lunes al Sol, to Campeones...
... but you can see also that a huge part of the Spanish Academy - smaller every year, obviously, as time passes - lean to the conservative side. Almodovar was denied so many times and lost Best Picture and Director to some clearly inferior films, and the list of upsets is quite long, so much as it has been discussed many times, how much love/hate relationship was between Almodovar and Goya. (On the conservative side, just look at the amount of Best Picture nominations and submissions to Oscar, Garci has, whose films are more conservative)
To this day, I'm still amazed by the love for Talk to Her in the US. Back in the day I was convinced that it would tank basically because the lead is a rapist, but it always tops the polls online.
Enough with the Almodovar victimisation. The Spanish Academy has selected:
Women
High Heels
Flower
Mother
Volver
Julieta
Pain and Glory