Anatomy of a Fall had a great night at the 2024 Golden Globes, pulling an upset win in Best Screenplay over the likes of Oppenheimer and Barbie, as well as taking home Best Motion Picture, Non-English Language. The latter win was more expected, as Anatomy of a Fall is one of the best-reviewed non-American movies of the year, including making What to Watch's top 10 movies of 2023 list.
However, despite all of this, we already know for absolute certainty that Anatomy of a Fall is not going to win what is the Oscar equivalent to the Globes' Best Motion Picture, Non-English Language award — Best International Feature. And there's a very simple answer as to why.
It isn't eligible.
On the surface, Anatomy of a Fall would seem like a slam dunk contender for the Best International Feature award at the Oscars. The intense courtroom drama won the Palme d'Or at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, the top prize a movie can win there, it has a 96% "Certified Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes, was cited for similar awards by a number of critics groups in the final months of 2023 and is seen as a strong contender to land an Oscar Best Picture nomination.
Heck, even though director and co-writer Justine Triet's movie is primarily in English, with French also used throughout, the fact the category is Best International Feature instead of the previous name it had, Best Foreign Language Feature, means that wouldn't hurt its chances.
But Oscar voters don't even have the chance to vote on it because no country selected Anatomy of a Fall as its entry for Best International Feature this year. The country that could have selected it was France, but their nominating committee instead opted for the Juliette Binoche-led movie The Taste of Things.
Now The Taste of Things is no slouch. The movie, which centers on the relationship between a pair of chefs in the late 19th century, also won a big prize at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival (Best Director for Anh Hung Tran) and is also "Certified Fresh" on Rotten Tomatoes (with a score of 99%).
The decision hasn't come back to bite France, as The Taste of Things is very much in contention for Best International Feature, with it being one of 15 movies to make the Oscars' Shortlist for the category, meaning it is still eligible for one of the five nomination slots.
If you want to watch The Taste of Things for yourself, it releases in US movie theaters on February 9 and UK cinemas on February 16.
As we mentioned, just because Anatomy of a Fall cannot be nominated for Best International Feature at the Oscars doesn't mean the movie is not going to be present at the awards ceremony. It is very much in the conversation for one of the 10 Best Picture slots; Justine Triet and co-writer Arthur Harari could very well have a chance to repeat their screenplay win at the Oscars; and there are outside chances for nominations in Best Director (Triet), Best Actress (Sandra Hüller) and other below-the-line categories.
But we'll have to wait until January 23 when Oscar nominations are announced to find out how Anatomy of a Fall does with the Academy.
In the meantime, Anatomy of a Fall is playing in select movie theaters in the US and UK and is available via digital on-demand in the US.
