Yes, that’s right. Back in November, the 2010 Governors Awards presented an honorary Oscar to Jean-Luc Godard, the controversial Swiss director who is probably best known for his 1960 film Breathless – not to be confused with Richard Gere’s 1983 remake. Unlike the other winners, he didn’t show. Perhaps it was because he was just one of four recipients, including Francis Ford Coppola. Or perhaps it was because the Academy has never even nominated one of his films. Whatever the reason, ‘the most radical, audacious, and influential New Wave filmmaker’, who has informed the work of award-winning directors like Tarantino, Scorcese, and Soderbergh, had his Oscar delivered to him in Switzerland.
There have been Swiss who showed up for their statues, of course. Rene Zellweger, Swiss through her father, picked up her best supporting actress Oscar in 2004 for Cold Mountain. In 2002, first time nominee Christian Frei stayed seated when his documentary feature, War Photographer, didn’t win. But he did go up to the podium to accept the 2010 Sundance World Cinema Documentary prize for Space Tourists, about the first woman, Anousheh Ansari, to pay $20 million for a space ride.
As far as Oscars go, Swiss films haven’t done too badly. Switzerland is one of the top dozen countries for foreign language film statues, winning two of its five nominations : one for Dangerous Moves in 1984 and the other for The Journey in 1991.
Not to be overlooked are other major film awards the Swiss have garnered. Cannes handed over the Jury Prize to Swiss director Alain Tanner in 1981 for Light Years Away. He also won best screenplay from the National Society of Film Critics in 1977 for Jonah who will be 25 in the Year 2000. Irene Jacobs won the best actress award at Cannes in 1991 for Three Colors Blue, and Bruno Ganz received the London Circle Film Critics best actor award in 2004 for Downfall. But the Swiss (Austrian) actor with the most wins is Maximillian Schell, who won the 1962 Oscar, Golden Globe, and NY Film Critics best actor awards for Judgement at Nuremberg, as well as a best supporting actor Golden Globe in 1993 for the TV movie Stalin.
Since award presenters and recipients are always telling us that the nominees are just as important as the winners, notable Swiss nominations include Marc Forster’s 2005 Golden Globe, Bafta, and DGA Award nods for directing Finding Neverland, 1984 Golden Globe best film Dangerous Moves, 1995 Golden Globe and Bafta best film Three Colors Red, and 1977 Golden Globe best supporting actress Marthe Keller for Marathon Man.
There’s a good chance, given the Swiss-sounding names of several of this year’s Oscar nominees, that there will be some winners of Swiss origin tonight. Whoever they are, in the words of Swiss soccer fans…
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