The BAFTA nominations are in – who's going to win?

It's 'that' time of the year, when the BAFTA nominations are unveiled – and in spite of the best efforts of the pandemic, I seem to have better knowledge of the main contenders than in any previous year.

So here are my provisional thoughts and predictions.

I can't comment on All Quiet on the Western Front, as I haven't seen this new version yet, but I am aware that the critical response has uniformly been one of acclaim. Of course, in a perverse twist of fate, to be released in a year when Europe saw conventional warfare within it again probably hightened awareness – though the horrors of war should never be forgotten.
In terms of the best film, I think that it will be between All Quiet and The Banshees of Inisherin (pictured above).
I doubt that bookies will take bets on British film of the year, which is almost certain to go to Aftersun, given that is gained far more acclaim than anything else on the list.

On leading female actor, I'd love Viola Davis to get it (left– and I said she should be in the running for awards), but I wouldn't object remotely if Michelle Yeoh won for what was a wonderful performance in the exhilarating Everything Everywhere All at Once.

On leading male actor, I want Bill Nighy to win for Living, because his performance is simply gorgeous, but I think it will also be considered 'too' Bill Nighy and Colin Farrell will get it for Banshees. And that will not remotely be a bad thing. Odd, though, that the lead in All Quiet isn't here.

On supporting female actor, either Kerry Condon (Banshees) or Jamie Lee-Curtis (Everything Everywhere) are, I think, the leading contenders, though Dolly de Leon in Triangle of Sadness could be a deserved surprise.

Supporting male actor – it's such a shame to pit Banshees actors Brendan Gleeson and Barry Keoghan against each other: the former's role is a joint lead, and he gives a superb performance, while the latter's is a 'conventional' supporting role and the performance he gives is also superb.

Director? I suspect that Gina Prince-Bythewood is in with a good chance for The Woman King.

Outstanding British debut by a writer, producer or director – Aftersun.

Film not in English – All Quiet.

Documentary – no idea.

Animated film – has to be Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio (left). Nothing else on that list comes close.
Cinematography – what? No Banshees here? No idea then.

Original screenplay – I suspect that this will go to Martin McDonagh for Banshees, possibly leaving All Quiet for best film.

Adapted screenplay – All Quiet.

Original score – Banshees. I love the work of Alexandre Desplat, who is nominated for del Toro's Pinocchio, but Carter Burwell's score for the former is better, in my opinion.

Casting – no idea. Possibly Everything Everywhere all at Once?

Costume design – Mrs Harris Goes to Paris (left), but then again, perhaps Amsterdam, which The Other Half and I really enjoyed.

Editing – no idea and don't have the knowledge to make a judgment.

Production design – del Toro's Pinocchio.

Rising star – Sheila Atim for Woman King – a very good performance.

I'm afraid I have no idea on last few, which are technical beyond my even really having an opinion.

I think that All Quiet will bag a number, but nowhere near the 14 nominations it's received, and that Banshees will bag some of the bigger ones, split with Everything Everywhere (left).

I could end up with metaphorical egg on face, of course ... only time will tell!

Mrs Harris charms Paris – and us

In 1957 London, cleaning lady Ada Harris becomes obsessed by a client’s haute couture Dior dress and decides to start saving to visit Paris and buy one for herself.

Her efforts receive a major setback, but when an RAF officer turns up to tell her that it is now known that her missing husband actually died when an RAF plane came down in Poland in the lates stages of WW2, she receives enough backdated widow’s pension to make the trip.

 

However, it turns out that buying a Dior dress isn’t really quite as simple as Ada had expected.

 

This is the fourth screen adaptation of Paul Gallico’s 1957 novella. The first was for US TV in 1958 and starred Gracie Fields.

The second saw Inge Meysel in a German TV version, while Angela Lansbury played the titular character in another small-screen version in 1992.

 

Here, then, in the story’s first big-screen outing, with Lesley Manville centre stage.

 

Written by director Anthony Fabian, together with Carroll Cartwright, Keith Thompson and Olivia Hetreed, Mrs Harris Goes to Paris is a film of total charm that avoids being overly sentimental and is careful to avoid obvious stereotypes in its portrayal of London working-class life (hence changing the title from the Mrs ’Arris of the original) or of romantic Paris.

It does, however touch – quite neatly – on aspects of class and sexism.

 

But there are other things to think about if you want to – not least, as The Other Half pointed out, how much of it is akin to a 20^th century take on a fairy tale. That started me on a trip.

There is the evil character who gets their comeuppance; a king who only needs the right advice to make the right decisions; a princess and a lovelorn, would-be suitor and, of course, a fairy godmother.

Perhaps I'm just a geek, but thinking about these things increases my personal pleasure – and  indeed, at the time of posting, I'm reading Stephen King's new novel, FairyTale, which tips into the same idea.

 

The cast is universally a delight. Manville is superb, but she has sterling support – not least from Isabelle Huppert as Dior’s director, Jason Isaacs as a London bookie, Ellen Thomas as Ada’s neighbour and fellow cleaner Vi, Alba Baptista as the face of Dior who prefers Sartre and Lambert Wilson as a French marquis.

 

Rael Jones’s original score manages the feat of being delightful and utterly apt for the period – and still sounding fresh and light.

 

The research on Dior dresses must have been something else – a fashion show for an elite audience is an extraordinary scene. 

 

Over on Twitter, where Universal has been promoting the film, someone complained that, given the state of the world, it was somehow ‘wrong’ to be making a film about a dress.

 

Aside from saying that the film is not ‘about’ a dress – but about dreams and stepping out of your own personal box – given the times we are living through, I personally don’t want misery porn when I’m not working.

 

I want to be entertained. And Mrs Harris Goes to Paris does that by the bucketload.