SPOTLIGHT


A new golden age for European fi lm


A raft of European film-making talent is emerging to dazzle critics and global audiences, says Screen’s chief film critic Mark Adams


The strength of the major fi lm festivals in Europe this year provided further proof, if any was needed, that European cinema is in rude health. Both veteran fi lm-makers and tyro talents have been vying for plaudits and distribution deals. With the shortlist for the European Film


Awards amounting to 45 fi lms from 32 countries, and with fi lms on offer ranging from a black-and- white silent fi lm about the classic Hollywood era (The Artist) through to a film of great beauty about the end of the world (Melancholia), it is a selection that adds a thoughtful pointer to the state of fi lm from Europe. The impressive Oscar successes for The King’s


Speech and In A Better World (Hævnen) were powerful reminders that strong dramas with intelligent scripts and fine performances will always gain attention, while the line-up in Cannes this summer suggested some of the big-name European directors still have plenty to say. The UK, given its shared language with the US,


has always managed to come up with occasional fi lms that break out beyond its borders. But the success of The King’s Speech (and its best picture Oscar) also showed there was room for a fi lm that crossed age groups and appealed to audiences who might normally have eschewed the classic British period drama. With a Cannes line-up that included Lars von


Trier’s Melancholia, Aki Kaurismäki’s Le Havre, Pedro Almodóvar’s The Skin I Live In (La Piel Que Habito), Nanni Moretti’s Habemus Papam and Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne’s The Kid With A Bike (Le Gamin Au Vélo), it was a sure sign that Europe’s much-feted film-makers can still get important fi lms made. With Lynne Ramsay’s We Need To Talk About


Kevin and Joachim Trier’s serious Norwegian drama Oslo, August 31st also screening at the fes- tival, alongside breakthrough fi lms such as Runar Runarsson’s Volcano from Iceland and Ruben Östlund’s Swedish drama Play, it added up to one of the best Cannes for some years. Michel Hazanavicius’ The Artist was a fi lm that


entranced Cannes audiences, and has since gone on to delight audiences at fi lm festivals around the world. Handled by Gaumont, and starring


62 n European Film Awards 2011


Jean Dujardin (who won the best actor prize in Cannes) and Bérénice Bejo — who also starred in Hazanavicius’ breakthrough fi lm OSS 117: Cairo, Nest Of Spies — the fi lm charmingly details the rise and fall of a star of Hollywood silent cinema, and is now being tipped as a frontrunner for this year’s Academy Awards. At the Berlinale, earlier in the year, rich pick-


ings from Europe included Céline Sciamma’s Tomboy from France, Yasemin Samdereli’s Almanya: Welcome To Germany and Michäel R. Roskam’s Belgian crime drama Bullhead (Rund- skop). The Iranian-French co-production A Sepa- ration, directed by Asghar Farhadi, was a deserved winner of the Golden Bear. Equally well-regarded was veteran Hungarian


director Béla Tarr’s The Turin Horse (A Torinói Ló), which the fi lm-maker has said will be his last fea- ture. The critical success of the fi lm has also led to a series of retrospectives of Tarr’s work at festivals around the world. At Venice in September the strong European


line-up helped reinforce the resilience and appe- tite of fi lm-making from the continent. Alexan- der Sokurov’s Russian-German co-production Faust won the Golden Lion, while other promi- nent titles in competition included Andrea Arnold’s Wuthering Heights, Steve McQueen’s Shame, Tomas Alfredson’s Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Emanuele Crialese’s Terraferma, Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud’s Chicken With Plums (Poulet Aux Prunes), and Yorgos Lanthi- mos’ mysterious Greek drama Alps (Alpeis). The success of the Millennium trilogy and the


popularity of Scandinavian crime fiction have helped focus attention on that region. Norwegian director Anne Sewitsky’s feature debut, Happy, Happy (Sykt Lykkelig), won the grand jury prize at the Sundance Film Festival and is the Norwe- gian entry for the foreign-language Oscar. Morten Tyldum’s Headhunters (Hodejegerne) wowed audiences at Locarno and Toronto, attracted sales attention and is set to be remade in English. Lisa Aschan’s Swedish drama She Monkeys (Apfl ickorna) has been a festival regular. Also from Norway, André Ovredal’s Sundance fi lm Troll Hunter (Trolljejeren), about a group of


Chicken With Plums


Alps


Troll Hunter


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