European Film Awards 2023: Who will win this year’s Best Film?

European Film Awards 2023: Who will win this year’s Best European Film prize?

The European Film Awards, which honour the greatest achievements in European cinema, are fast approaching.

The ceremony, which takes place this weekend (Saturday 9 December) in Berlin, will be livestreamed on Euronews Culture, and we’ll be on site to keep you abreast of all the results.

And this year is a particularly strong one…

Of the films nominated this year for the prestigious Best European Film award, three of the nominees world premiered at Cannes and won major awards there (Anatomy Of A Fall – Palme d’Or; The Zone of Interest – Cannes Grand Prix and the FIPRESCI Prize; Fallen Leaves – Jury Prize), while the other two nominees premiered in Venice this year – Green Border and Me Captain – and also came home with trophies: Special Jury Prize and Best Actor respectively.

It’s a tight race and each entry could feasibly take home the main prize.

Let’s take a look at the Best Film nominees in detail, before we start making some predictions…

Anatomy of a Fall (Anatomie d’une chute)

Directed by Justine Triet (France)

This year’s Palme d’Or winner tells the compelling story of possible Alpine murder which morphs into a captivating courtroom drama, powered by a stellar performance from Sandra Hüller (who is nominated for Best Actress twice this year – for Anatomy of a Fall and The Zone of Interest).

French director Justine Triet’s unconventional whodunnit deals with knotty parenthood and the burdens of responsibility in relationships. Especially when the relationship is dissected in public for all to see – something which in turn allows the director to use the judicial system as a springboard to expose entrenched misogynistic prejudices. The lead character, Sandra (Hüller) is not the ideal victim fighting for her innocence to be heard; she speaks matter-of-factly about the imperfection of her relationships, and feels like a fully rounded human being, as opposed to the clichéd figure of the irreproachable martyr fighting for survival.

What’s most impressive about the script is that instead of going down a pulpy, Basic Instinct route (Sandra, a bisexual novelist accused of murder, could seem like Sharon Stone’s ‎Catherine Tramell on paper), the film reveals itself as far more interested in weightier meditations on perception and storytelling. As such, the engulfing sense of uncertainty becomes addictive throughout.

The film is already emerging as an awards favourite, having nabbed Best Screenplay and Best International Film at the Gotham Independent Film Awards, as well as Best Foreign Language Film at the New York Film Critics Circle Awards. There’s every reason to believe that it’ll win big in all of its categories at the European Film Awards – Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenwriter and Best Actress. Plus, the EFAs aren’t above awarding several awards to the same film, as we saw last year for Triangle of Sadness, which won four prizes: Best Film, Director, Screenwriter and Actor. Watch this space… However, while Anatomy of a Fall is a thought-provoking drama with proper emotional depth, it doesn’t quite feel like it has the staying power of previous Cannes winners. Dare we say it, it’s already a smidge overhyped. That said, international audiences love it, and we wouldn’t be surprised if it left Berlin with a lot of trophies.

Let’s just hope that the winners on Saturday will be a bit more diverse than last year, so that more films can get a look in…

Fallen Leaves (Kuolleet Lehdet)

Directed by Aki Kaurismäki (Finland, Germany)

Aki Kaurismäki offered this year’s Cannes Film Festival one of its best Competition films. Fallen Leaves won the third-place Jury Prize, and has been selected as Finland’s 2024 Oscar entry for Best International Film.

For his first film in six years and the fourth chapter to his ‘working class trilogy’ (Shadows in Paradise, Ariel, The Match Factory Girl), the Finnish deadpan maestro delivered what could be the warmest gloomy romantic comedy of 2023. And as it turns out, Finnish feelgood is strangely addictive.

The basic narrative of two lost souls forging a strange and beautiful bond despite the odds ticks a lot of generic Hollywood boxes. However, the tragicomic melancholia here works wonders, as the director fashions a working-class romance which develops as a joyful farce with all the unmistakable Kaurismäkian hallmarks: silent detachment reflecting deep emotions characters can’t express; wryly funny remarks and witty gags; several sly tributes to his filmmaking heroes – here Ozu and Bresson in particular; and those precisely composed, shadow-bathed and heightened colour schemed portraits that decry from the director’s continued partnership with cinematographer Timo Salminen.

Fans of the director won’t find anything new here, but it’s still an absolute joy to experience. It serves as a reminder that surrendering to chance encounters and embracing love without having one foot out of the door is the only sane thing to do when world around you crumbles. And we need more of that these days…

It is nominated for Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenwriter, Best Actor and Best Actress. On any other year, it would be a shoo-in for wins in most of these categories. However, we have the sneaking suspicion it’ll be eclipsed by Anatomy of a Fall…

Green Border (Zielona Granica)

Directed by Agnieszka Holland (Poland, France, Czech Republic, Belgium)

Green Border is an emotionally devastating indictment of a continuing EU crisis and one of Agnieszka Holland’s best films. There, we said it.

The title refers to the forests that make up the no-man’s land between Belarus and Poland. There, refugees from the Middle East and Africa desperately try to reach the European Union and find themselves trapped in an absurd to-and-fro overseen by both the Belarusian and Polish governments. Refugees are lured to the border, with the promise of safe passage to the EU. The reality is that they are political pawns in a rigged game orchestrated by Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko; they are brutally evicted between the two sides, neither of which claims any responsibility and continues to condemn them to a horrifically finite in-limbo.

Green Border is one of the most gripping films you’ll see next year (it hasn’t been released on most European screens yet). It’s an incisive and cinematically powerful cri-du-coeur that gives a voice to the voiceless.

Holland said it best in her director’s notes: “We live in a world where it takes great imagination and courage to face all the challenges of modern times. The social media revolution and artificial intelligence have made it increasingly difficult for genuine voices to be heard. In my opinion, there is no point in engaging in art if one doesn’t fight for that voice, if one doesn’t fight to ask questions about important, painful, sometimes unsolvable issues that put us before dramatic choices.”

The film is our pick for the main prize this year – not simply because of its timely message, but because rare are films that manage to so deftly blend righteous anger and intelligent filmmaking, telling a human story that doesn’t devolve into hectoring that could fuel audience fatigue when it comes to migrant narratives on screen.

By calling out Poland’s inhumane policies and asking vital questions about collective responsibility in a geopolitical landscape Europe – as a collective – finds itself in, the film has been a target of much hate. For instance, Polish Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro labelled Green Border as “Third Reich propaganda” – without having seen the film. Well done there. The right wing venom directed at Holland and her film was countered by support from the Federation of European Screen Directors (FERA) and the European Film Academy (EFA).

What better way to honour a stunning and compassionate film AND send a message than by awarding Green Border Best Film this year?

Me Captain (Io Capitano)

Directed by Matteo Garrone (Italy, Belgium)

Another strong title at this year’s Venice Film Festival was Italian director Matteo Garrone’s Io Capitano, which puts a face on the migrant crisis.

It does so by focusing on Seydou (Seydou Sarr) – who could have been a real contender in the Best Actor category – who has no nautical or navigation experience but is tasked by a people smuggler to take up the captain’s mantle and steer a boat carrying 250 people across the Mediterranean.

Io Capitano is inspired by real-life events, and is a solid look at a descent into Hades, one which mirrors the plight of so many who take the perilous journey to Europe, dreaming of creating a better life for themselves.

Like Green Border, it is incredibly topical. However, it feels like the weakest of the five films nominated for Best Film. While it’s well worth watching, we doubt it will come home with the main gong this year.

The Zone of Interest

Directed by Jonathan Glazer (United Kingdom, Poland, USA)

Jonathan Glazer’s harrowing Holocaust drama The Zone of Interest leads the EFA nominations this year, and has been selected as the UK’s official entry for the 2024 Oscars in the Best International Feature category. It’s a profoundly disturbing and audacious film that will leave you rattled – once you get to see it in theatres in January.

Loosely based on Martin Amis’ 2014 novel, The Zone of Interest is Glazer’s first feature in 10 years, following 2013’s Under The Skin. It follows Auschwitz camp commandant Rudolf Höss (Christian Friedel) and his wife Hedwig (Sandra Hüller), who both build a dream life for their family in their home situated on the other side of the concentration camp wall. We observe the everyday domesticity of the family: friendly visits, servants keeping the house spotless, Hedwig tending to her Edenic “paradise garden” and appreciating the living space she has built next to a dying one.

Hundreds of films have tackled the subject of the Holocaust, but few have achieved what British director Jonathan Glazer has with The Zone of Interest. Many like Schindler’s List and Son of Saul have evoked the unimaginable horrors of what happened within the walls of concentration camps and several have touched upon what Hannah Arendt referred to as the “banality of evil”. Few however have taken that concept and brought it to the screen in such a chilling way, exploring not only the banality behind evil but the troublingly identifiable humanity behind the lives of those who perpetrate the most unspeakable of crimes.

Glazer’s film is, on a formal level, a daring masterstroke which breaks conventional expectations when it comes to similar premises. Film students will be dining out on this one for years to come, analysing (amongst many other things) the way the framing and sparsely used travelling shots convey so much, as well as the effect created by the sudden monochrome screens with composer Mica Levi’s droning alarm sounds – which feel like they’re emanating from the deepest bowels of Hades.

There is so much to appreciate and unpick in Glazer’s audacious depiction of the Final Solution. It has already made our Top European Films of the 21st Century list, and had it been released in European cinemas this year, there’s every chance it would have nabbed the top spot for our Best Film of 2023. There’s a chance it might be a bit too daring for viewers, and while we’d be thrilled if it took home Best Film on Saturday, we’ll be cursing the high heavens if Glazer isn’t rewarded with Best Director.

Predictions

We’re getting our crystal balls out and predicting the winners of the 36th European Film Awards. As you can tell from above, it’s a tough year to call, as so many of the films deserve to be rewarded.

That said, here goes:

European Film:

Will Win: ANATOMY OF A FALL (ANATOMIE D’UNE CHUTE) – Directed by Justine Triet (France)

Should Win: GREEN BORDER (ZIELONA GRANICA) – Directed by Agnieszka Holland (Poland, France, Czech Republic, Belgium)

European Director:

Will Win: Agnieszka Holland for GREEN BORDER

Should Win: Jonathan Glazer for THE ZONE OF INTEREST

European Actress:

Will Win: Sandra Hüller in ANATOMY OF A FALL / THE ZONE OF INTEREST

Should Win: Sandra Hüller in ANATOMY OF A FALL / THE ZONE OF INTEREST

European Actor:

Will Win: Josh O’Connor in LA CHIMERA

Should Win: Mads Mikkelsen in THE PROMISED LAND

European Screenwriter:

Will Win: Justine Triet & Arthur Harari for ANATOMY OF A FALL

Should Win: Aki Kaurismäki for FALLEN LEAVES

European Documentary:

Will Win: FOUR DAUGHTERS (LES FILLES D’OLFA) – Directed by Kaouther Ben Hania (France, Tunisia, Germany, Saudi Arabia)

Should Win: FOUR DAUGHTERS (LES FILLES D’OLFA) – Directed by Kaouther Ben Hania (France, Tunisia, Germany, Saudi Arabia)

European Discovery – Prix FIPRESCI

Will Win: HOW TO HAVE SEX directed by Molly Manning Walker (United Kingdom, Greece)

Should Win: VINCENT MUST DIE (VINCENT DOIT MOURIR) directed by Stéphan Castang (France)

The winners of the 2023 European Film Awards will be announced in Berlin on Saturday 9 December. Bookmark Euronews Culture for full coverage of the evening and for exclusive interviews. And maybe applaud us for how many categories we called correctly.