After a series of delays, the nominations for the 2025 Oscars finally arrived. This season is rather interesting, stocked with upsets, and, as these things go, flowing with drama and discussion.
Regarding many of the nominations, approximations can be made regarding the winners based on the results of the Golden Globes. The winner of Best Main Actress at the Golden Globes was Fernanda Torres in I’m Still Here, and once again she is nominated here as well.
However, the winner of Best Actress in a “comedy or musical” was Demi Moore who is here for the same award. This was Moore’s first award in her long career of acting and was suitably met with an emotional response to that credit. Also nominated for this award is Karla Sofia Gascon in Emilia Perez, who is the first transgender actress to be nominated for Best Actress.
Regarding the screenplay nominations, The Conclave, written by Peter Straughan, won the Golden Globes and is again nominated for Adapted Screenplay.
Alongside that film, Emilia Perez is also nominated for Adapted Screenplay. Regarding Original Screenplay, A personal favorite to win is The Substance, written by Coralie Fargeat, a body horror film that found surprisingly wide appeal. Horror films generally get put to the wayside in the awards season, so this could be another great move forward for the public perception of the films for the wider populace.
For the directing nominees, the winner previously was Brady Corbet for The Brutalist. Another very important nominee is Jacques Audiard for Emilia Perez.
It may be apparent now that there is a trend forming: almost every award (aside from the male acting ones) has some representative from the film Emilia Perez. This is somewhat normal as there is normally one or two juggernaut films in the awards season every year.
However, the controversy here regards the public perception of this film’s quality. Most of the populace did not entirely like this movie, with the audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes sitting comfortably at 20%. Therefore, its inclusion seems bizarre to most people.
On top of this, there is another topic of discussion: this is a French film directed by a cis-gendered man about the Mexican experience, transgenderism, and femininity who believes he already understands it all. Director Jacques Audiard stated, “Spanish is a language of modest countries, of developing countries, of the poor and migrants.” His French background and lack of cultural knowledge creates controversy on a film set in Mexico discussing topics about cartel violence and Mexican life.
The Best Picture Award has always been the keystone event. The Brutalist won for Drama Picture at the Golden Globes, so it is in major consideration here too. The Substance, which is nominated, is a personal favorite to win Best Picture, and to end off with the musical winner from the Golden Globes, Emilia Perez is again nominated here and is expected to be a major winner.
This is a very messy awards season this year with a great many upsets by the wider public and controversies abundant. However, we cannot make too many judgments as the winners are not yet decided. Audiences will have to see in March to form judgments. Personally, I am slightly scared but hopeful for the results of this season. This was a pretty good year for films and many of my favorites were indeed nominated, including The Substance, A Real Pain, Conclave, and Dune: Part 2.