Wednesday Oscar Retrospective: The Deadlocked Duel of 2007

Welcome to a new weekly feature here at Movies with Abe, Wednesday Oscar Retrospective. The Deadlocked Duel is the fourth in a series of projects looking back at the past eight years of the Oscars, dating back to the first ceremony I watched and closely followed.

Each year after the Oscar nominations are announced, there’s at least one category where two nominees end up in a heated battle for the award right up until Oscar night, dividing predictors and keeping Oscar watchers anxiously in suspense. This series is devoted to analyzing the biggest and most intense of those battles each year, in any category.

The Deadlocked Duel of 2007:

Julie Christie (Away from Her) vs. Marion Cotillard (La Vie en Rose) for Best Actress
The background: The veteran Oscar-winning Brit vs. the French breakout. Christie had won on her first try back in 1965 (ten years before Cotillard was even born) for “Darling” and earned two successive nominations, in 1971 and 1997. Cotillard had appeared in a few English-language films like “Big Fish” and “A Good Year” and had been nominated for three César Awards, the last of which she one. By comparison, of course, Christie had been nominated for seven BAFTA Awards, winning once for “Darling.”

Why it was just the two of them: Two of the eventual Oscar nominees were surprises and therefore weren’t likely to end up the victor. Cate Blanchett had received Golden Globe and SAG nods for “Elizabeth: The Golden Age,” but few expected her to end up on the final Oscar ballot. She hadn’t won for her initial portrayal of the monarch nine years earlier, and the follow-up film was enough of a flop to cancel out her chances. Laura Linney’s nomination for “The Savages” was her award. Young Ellen Page might have had a shot if “Juno” didn’t have so many haters and wasn’t going to definitely go home with the Best Original Screenplay prize.

Setting the stage: The Golden Globes were hardly helpful in determining a frontrunner, as both actresses took home awards in their respective categories – Christie for Drama, Cotillard for Comedy/Musical. Christie steamrolled around with a good deal more critics’ awards and the SAG trophy, but Cotillard eked out one major victory: the BAFTA.

Oscar night: Neither film got a big boost in terms of nominations. “Away from Her,” somewhat surprisingly, was up for Best Adapted Screenplay, replacing the strangely-snubbed “Into the Wild,” while “La Vie en Rose” was up for Best Costume Design and Best Makeup. Cotillard ended up clinching the Best Actress award, becoming the third person to earn an Oscar for an entirely foreign-language performance, and the first French thespian to do so.

Consolation prize for the loser: Nothing really. Besides a memorable small part in “New York, I Love You,” Christie hasn’t done much since. Cotillard, on the other hand, has done extremely well for herself with great roles in “Nine” and “Inception.”

Other notable duels: Cate Blanchett (I’m Not There) vs. Amy Ryan (Gone Baby Gone) for Best Supporting Actress (victor: third nominee Tilda Swinton)

Come back next week for a look at the Deadlocked Duel of 2006. If you have a prediction or a suggestion, please leave it in the comments. There were a lot of surprises that year but only one duel that I can recall.