Evening of first times at the Oscars. The 93rd edition, which took place live, was the first major ceremony to take place “face to face” since the start of the pandemic. The first to attempt a change of formula under the leadership of its director Steven Soderbergh. In contention for six trophies and favorite of the evening,
Nomadland
surpassed all expectations and achieved a historic treble by winning the statuettes for best actress, best director and best film.
Nomadland
brings its director, the Chinese Chloe Zhao into history. She becomes the second woman in nine decades of Oscars to receive the title of best director, thirteen years after the feat of Kathryn Bigelow for
Minesweeper
. Chloe Zhao is the first color and Asian filmmaker to be honored in this way. Humble as always, the lucky one gave a very nice speech:
“How do you move forward when things are difficult? I thought about a game of reciting Chinese poems with my father. One of these says 'people at birth are deeply good'. It's true, I have always found kindness in people I have met. This statuette is for people who believe in this goodness. It is you who me
inhale ”.
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An hour and a half later, she returned to the stage, accompanied by her star and producer Frances McDormand, to accept the statuette for best film.
“Thank you to the heroes of
Nomadland
for teaching us resilience, resistance and kindness,
” said Chloe Zhao. Frances McDormand urged audiences to come to the theaters to see all of the named movies and then howled like a wolf like in one of the movie's cult scenes. She was immediately called back to the stage to receive the Best Actress trophy ahead of Viola Davis, Andra Day, Carey Mulligan and Vanessa Kirby. A surprise for some because her last Oscar dates back not long ago in 2017. Very brief, she spoke of "the voice of an actor". This coronation for
Nomadland
is an achievement.
Oscar winner for
Fargo
and
The Vengeance Panels
, Frances McDormand becomes the first actress to triumph three times in the lead role category.
A feat that only Katharine Hepburn has equaled.
Nomadland
producer
Frances McDormand also received a statuette for best film, making four in her possession.
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Aware that the suspense of this Sunday was played on the categories best actor and actress, the organizers handed out their prizes last.
The trophy for best actor caused an earthquake.
Announced as the
unstoppable
winner
, the late Chadwick Boseman, musician inhabited and haunted in
the blues of Ma Rainey
, had to bow to Anthony Hopkins, senile father in
The Father
.
As usual, the 83-year-old Welshman was not present.
This is his second Oscar, three decades after that for best supporting role in
The Silence of the Lambs
.
Diversity confined to supporting roles
These surprises in the main categories prevent the grand slam that some expected in terms of diversity in the performer categories.
This push was finally limited to supporting roles with the victories of Daniel Kaluuya (
Judas And The Black Messiah
) and Youn Yuh-jung (
Minari
).
Daniel Kaluuya AMPAS / REUTERS
The only winner among the actors who was no doubt, the British actor who lent his ardor in
Judas And The Black Messiah
to the frontman of the Black Panthers Fred Hampton, assassinated by the FBI in 1969, triumphed in the category best supporting role.
“Thank you Fred for your light, for having fed children, for showing me the way, that harmony, union animate us when we want to separate us.
Thank God, I will not be there without his protection and to my mother who gave me everything, including righteousness.
Thank you to my parents who slept together for having me ”
, he concluded under the amused and dismayed eye of his relatives.
Yuh-Jung Youn delighted to pose with Brad Pitt POOL / REUTERS
Nicknamed the South Korean Meryl Streep and facetious and boorish grandmother in
Minari
, a tale of the American dream of a family of Korean immigrants, Yuh-Jung Youn won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor and was no slouch. . As at the Bafta, the British Caesars, where she mocked the snobbery of the English, the lucky one quipped by first declaring her love for the handler Brad Pitt, also producer of
Minari
: "
Where were you during the Brad shoot?
It is an honor to meet you.
Tonight, I forgive all those who scratch my name.
Usually I watch the Oscars from my television, being here alone on stage I can't believe it.
I don't believe in competition.
How I can win in front of Glenn Close whom I admire so much.
Tonight I'm a little luckier than my four fellows, but you guys are wonderful.
This reward is finally for my two boys who have always pushed me to work and to go out.
Mom worked well
”.
Good evening for the French
Florian Zeller is savoring his Oscar under the watchful eye of his partner Marine Delterme.
LEWIS JOLY / AFP
These Oscars were also auspicious for the French talents in the running. Six times nominated,
The Father (Le Père)
by French playwright Florian Zeller won the statuette for best adaptation, beating the favorite of the evening Chloé Zhao and her
Nomadland.
"It's such an honor,"
said the novelist, live from Paris, where he was presented with his trophy. He thanked his co-author the screenwriter of
Dangerous Liaisons
Christopher Hampton, before paying tribute to his main actor: "
I wrote for Anthony Hopkins who is the greatest actor in the world.
It was not easy for me who am French as you understand it.
It seemed impossible to me, but anything is possible.
Thank you Anthony for making this dream possible and for giving your father all your energy ”.
Nicolas Becker LEWIS JOLY / AFP
Nicolas Becker won with his collaborators the Oscar for best sound for
Sound of Metal,
the poignant sensory journey of a rock metal musician losing his hearing.
A few moments later, the team of the short film
Colette took to the stage,
retracing the work of memory carried out by a young historian and a nonagenarian from Normandy whose brother, resistant like her, died in a concentration camp at the age of seventeen. The French producer of the documentary Alice Doyard dedicated this victory to "women around the world" before ending with a pirouette "Vive la France".
Hopes showered for Netflix
Nominated for the best director and best foreign film sections, Thomas Vinterberg saw his ode to alcohol
Drunk
crowned with the second trophy.
“It is beyond anything I imagined except that I always imagined when I was preparing speeches in train stations and school toilets. It's a film about how you have to let go in your life, as I had to do with this project. Thank you to my producers for letting me tell me how four drunkards teach young people to drink, "
greeted the Dane who lost his daughter at the start of filming,
" this film had to celebrate life. My daughter who must have been in Drunk. I miss her I love her. Ida this film is for you, you are part of this miracle ”
,he confided, suppressing his tears.
Chloe Zhao was not the only award-winning director. Revelation of the vengeful and feminist thriller
Promising Young Woman in
which Carey Mulligan shines, the Briton Emerald Fennell left with the trophy for best screenplay. The very philosophical Soul of Pixar leaves with two prizes, that of the best animated film and the original bade. Netflix
hopefuls
,
Mank
and
The Blues of MaRainey
are content with two technical awards each, like the very immersive
Sound Of Metal
.
Aaron Sorkin's
Chicago Seven
is the only favorite with five or more nominations to walk away empty-handed. Despite the theaters being closed, Netflix will have to wait to clinch the title of best film.
Steve Soderbergh's sweep
Under the aegis of the conductor, Steven Soderbergh, these Oscars have shaken up, if not dusted off, their scenography, gaining in flexibility. The musical numbers highlighting the competing songs were grouped together in a separate program, broadcast before the ceremony. But the time saved on this maneuver was wasted by the volubility of the winners, happy not to have to cut short. A small musical quiz was a big prize by allowing Glenn Close, graceful loser, to show off her talents as a rapper. This light sequence then gave way to the “in memoriam” sequence commemorating the missing of the year. Jean-Claude Carrière, Bertrand Tavernier and Michel Piccoli have been cited, as the British actress Helen McCrory, who died last week. In the running for the best actor trophy,Chadwick Boseman closed the edit.
The 170 or so nominated, remitters and their accompanying persons invited to Union Station and duly tested were distributed, in good franquette, around tables. The presenters exalted the cathartic and inspirational power of cinema in this year of confinement, unveiling anecdotes around the named, the origin of their love of the 7th art, wondering what their charms were. The order of rewards has been tweaked to avoid the technical rewards tunnel. No need to wait until the last moments of the ceremony to know the name of the best achievement, revealed very quickly. Likewise, the performer categories were not grouped together but dispersed throughout the evening.
The political allusions, in particular on the outcome of Viola Davis, Chris Evans and Mariah Carey react to the conviction of Derek Chauvin, the police officer convicted of the murder of George Floyd, were present but more behind compared to other years. Like the actress Regina King who opened the evening: "
Here we are, what a strange year which we do not yet see the tunnel",
she exclaimed.
“We cry for so many missing. If Derek Chauvin's trial had turned out otherwise, I would have traded in my heels for walking shoes. I know you skip when celebrities give political harangues, but I'm the mother of a black son. However, we are here to celebrate cinema
”.