Michael Haneke’s “Amour” has won Best Foreign Language Film at the 85th annual Academy Awards. It falls in line with films like “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” and “Life is Beautiful” which were nominated for Best Picture and won the award in this category.
“Thank you very much for this honor,” Haneke said from the stage of the Dolby Theatre. “I have to thank Michael Barker and Tom Bernard from Sony Classics,” the second shout-out for the distributor this evening. Haneke also thanked his film’s stars Emmanuelle Riva and Jean-Louis Trintignant, “because without them, I would not stand here.”
This is the second film from Austria to win the prize. Haneke is also nominated for Best Original Screenplay and Best Director.
“Critics are more interested in the theoretical aspect of film and less with the practical aspects of film,” Hanke told HitFix earlier this month. “That’s what disturbs filmmakers when they read critics, because critics are more interested in questions of ideology than they are with questions of craft. You can only learn your craft from making films.”
“Amour” is one of this year’s nine Best Picture nominees.