Academy and subtitled films rarely speak the same language

By my count, there have been 12 films largely or entirely in a foreign language that have been nominated for the best picture Oscar over the 81 years of the Academy Awards, only three of which have won -- that was "Slumdog Millionaire" (2008) last month:

• 1938 "Grand Illusion" -- French
• 1969 "Z" (French) -- Swedish
• 1972 "The Emigrants" -- Swedish
• 1973 "Cries and Whispers" -- Swedish
• 1974 "The Godfather, Part II" -- Italian WON
• 1987 "The Last Emperor" -- Mandarin, Japanese WON
• 1995 "Il Postino" -- Italian/Spanish
• 1998 "Life Is Beautiful" -- Italian
• 2000 "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" -- Mandarin
  
• 2002 "The Pianist" -- German/Russian
• 2006 "Babel" -- Arabic, Spanish, Japanese, French, Japanese Sign Language
• 2006 "Letters from Iwo Jima" -- Japanese
• 2008 "Slumdog Millionaire" -- Hindi WON

By my count, there have been 32 performances largely or entirely in a foreign language that have been nominated for an acting Oscar over the 81 years of the Academy Awards, only seven of which have won -- the most recent was Peneope Cruz ("Vicky Cristina Barcelona") last month:

• 1961 Sophia Loren ("Two Women") for best actress -- Italian WON
• 1962 Marcello Mastroianni ("Divorce, Italian-Style") for best actor -- Italian 
• 1964 Sophia Loren ("Marriage, Italian-Style") for best actress -- Italian
• 1966 Anouk Aimee ("A Man and a Woman") for best actress -- French
• 1966 Ida Kaminska ("The Shop on Main Street") for best actress -- Slovak
• 1972 Liv Ullmann ("The Emigrants") for best actress -- Swedish
• 1974 Robert De Niro ("The Godfather, Part II") for best supporting actor -- Italian WON
• 1974 Valentina Cortese ("Day for Night") for best supporting actress -- French
• 1975 Isabelle Adjani ("The Story of Adele H.") for best actress -- French
• 1976 Giancarlo Giannini ("Seven Beauties") for best actor -- Italian
• 1976 Marie-Christine Barrault ("Cousin, Cousine") for best actress -- French
• 1976 Liv Ullmann ("Face to Face") for best actress -- Swedish
• 1977 Marcello Mastroianni ("A Special Day") for best actor -- Italian
• 1978 Ingrid Bergman  ("Autumn Sonata") for best actress -- Swedish
• 1982 Meryl Streep  ("Sophie's Choice") for best actress -- Polish, German WON
• 1986 Marlee Matlin ("Children of a Lesser God") for best actress -- American Sign Language WON
• 1987 Marcello Mastroianni ("Dark Eyes") for best actor -- Italian
• 1988 Max von Sydow ("Pelle the Conqueror") for best actor -- Swedish
• 1989 Isabelle Adjani ("Camille Claudel") for best actress -- French
• 1990 Gerard Depardieu ("Cyrano de Bergerac") for best actor -- French
• 1990 Graham Greene  ("Dances with Wolves") for best supporting actor -- Lakota
• 1992 Catherine Deneuve ("Indochine") for best actress -- French
• 1995 Massimo Troisi ("Il Postino") for best actor -- Italian
• 1998 Roberto Benigni ("Life Is Beautiful") for best actor -- Italian WON
• 1998 Fernanda Montenegro ("Central Station") for best actress -- Portuguese
• 2000 Benicio Del Toro ("Traffic") for best supporting actor -- Spanish WON
• 2004 Catalina Sandino Moreno ("Maria Full of Grace") for best actress -- Spanish 
• 2006 Penelope Cruz  ("Volver") for best actress -- Spanish
• 2006 Adrianna Barraza ("Babel") for best supporting actress -- Spanish 
• 2006 Rinko Kikuchi ("Babel") for best supporting actress -- Japanese Sign Language
• 2007 Marion Cotillard ("La Vie En Rose") for best actress -- French WON
• 2008 Penelope Cruz ("Vicky Cristina Barcelona") for best actress -- Spanish WON

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Photo: "Slumdog Millionaire" (Fox Searchlight)

Comments

[Cody]

Did Adriana Baraza not speak spanish in Babel as well? Hmmm maybe I have to watch that again.

[brainypirate]

didn't Streep win for Sophie's Choice?

[Robert Hamer]

To be fair, Scott, a good portion of Slumdog Millionaire was in English as well. I mean, wouldn't you also have to count The Godfather: Part II since a major backstory was spoken in Sicilian?

[Scott Feinberg]

All three of you are right -- I've made the necessary adjustments. (It's hard to come up with a list like this out of scratch!)

[Greg]

The Godfather, Part II won best picture.

[Ken]

how about THE LAST EMPEROR?

[Aaron]

Another minor 'oops' - Catherine Deneuve was nominated in 1992, not 1990.