In the still American-led realm of the Academy Awards, it’s unusual for the helmer of a film not in the English language to score a Best Director nomination. It’s far rarer still, meanwhile, for a woman to be nominated in the category at all: just five have done so in 91 years. Only one director, however, has broken both those barriers: in 1977, Italy’s Lina Wertmuller made history as Oscar’s first distaff Best Director nominee, for her darkly comic, baroquely nightmarish Holocaust survival odyssey “Seven Beauties.”
She lost, of course, though the nomination was really the remarkable feat: not just because it came at the expense of Hollywood names like Martin Scorsese and Hal Ashby, but because “Seven Beauties” was — and remains — such an abrasive, discomfiting vision, a million miles removed from the epic, ennobling Second World War stories that pundits like to think of as awards bait.
She lost, of course, though the nomination was really the remarkable feat: not just because it came at the expense of Hollywood names like Martin Scorsese and Hal Ashby, but because “Seven Beauties” was — and remains — such an abrasive, discomfiting vision, a million miles removed from the epic, ennobling Second World War stories that pundits like to think of as awards bait.
- 10/16/2019
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
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