Ruben Östlund hadn’t come to Reykjavik to go home empty-handed, and certainlynot to make a fuss. ‘Tonight is ‘Triangle of sadness’ night!’ said the Swedishfilmmaker when he accepted the screenplay prize at the 35th edition of theEuropean Film Awards. Earlier that evening, he had already walked away withthe award for best director. Östlund felt little compassion for Dhont and theother nominees, who were left empty-handed. “You will win someday in thefuture.” Ali Abbasi, the Swedish-Iranian maker of ‘Holy spider’, should havehad a good laugh about it. But the ‘Close’ squad looked visibly dejected.
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It is of course understandable. Dhont had gone to Iceland in a favorite role.With his second film ‘Close’ he was again nominated for Best Picture after’Girl’. This time he also had a chance to win for his directing and thescreenplay, which he had again written together with Angelo Tijssens. Theyoung, blonde Eden Dambrine was nominated for his leading role. He made hisacting debut with the film, just as it had been Victor Polster’s first timefour years ago with ‘Girl’.
Predictable
But when Östlund received the director’s prize at the beginning of theevening, you could already predict that he would later also receive the awardfor best film. It was from 2011 that the same film was not awarded in thosecategories. And so it went at the end of what was a sometimes excessivelyprotracted ceremony drenched in too much humor.
In addition to the direction, the screenplay and the film itself, ‘Triangle ofsadness’ main actor Zlatko Buric also received an award. He plays a Russianoligarch aboard a cruise ship in the dark comedy. The film already won theGolden Palm in Cannes in May, and so history repeated itself: Östlund also wonthe Golden Palm in 2017, then for ‘The square’, and six months later also wonthe European Film in the most important categories. Awards.
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The Best Actress award went to Vicky Krieps for her portrayal of Sissi in”Corsage,” a bold character portrayal that hits theaters December 21. Kriepswas not present in Iceland, she was sitting in front of the webcam somewherein a hotel room, hidden under a hoodie – you can win a European Film Awardeven in such an outfit. Léa Seydoux and Penélope Cruz had not even made thateffort, although they were also nominated. In this way, they pointed to theinability of an Academy to give its awards more allure. If the big names stayaway, they will probably think it’s just a trivial event.
Yet it is not an uninteresting, let alone irrelevant project. Many films amongthe contenders and winners are European co-productions. They illustrate thatthe best stories are told by joining forces and uniting talents, acrossnational borders.
Belgian co-production
‘Close’ could not redeem any of its nominations, but there was still a smallprofit to celebrate for our country. The animated film ‘Interdit aux chiens etaux italiens’ by the Frenchman Alain Ughetto is a co-production of fiveEuropean countries, including our country.