France selects 'Memoir of War' for 91st Oscars

France has officially selected 'Memoir of War' as its entry for the 'foreign language film' category at 91st Oscars.

Directed by Emmanuel Finkiel, 'Memoir of War' is a World War II drama, which stars Melanie Thierry and Benjamin Biolay, reported The Hollywood Reporter.

The flick is an adaptation of Marguerite Duras' semi-autobiographical novel titled 'The War: A Memoir'.

The Music Box Films acquired U.S. rights of the movie in February, after it had opened in the theatres across France on January 24, reported Variety.

The story is set in June 1944, when France was still under German occupation. It follows Marguerite, a young writer back then, who agrees to a series of secret meetings with Nazi collaborator Rabier. In exchange of which, she receives information about her husband's whereabouts, Robert Antelme, who was a writer and major figure of the Resistance who had been detained and sent to the Dachau concentration camp.

Finkiel's other credits include 'A Decent Man', 'Voyages' and 'Madame Jacques on the Croisette'.

The movie was chosen from a diverse shortlist of four other movies including Gaspar Noe's 'Climax', which premiered at Cannes, Xavier Legrand's 'Custody', Emmanuel Mouret's 'Mademoiselle de Joncquieres' and Claude Lanzmann's 'Les Quatre Soeurs'.

Last year, France selected Robin Campillo's Cannes Grand Prix winner titled '120 BPM'. In 2016, France had selected 'Elle', which failed to make the foreign-language shortlist but it earned star Isabelle Huppert her first Oscar nomination.

The last French film to have won the foreign-language Oscar was 'Indochine', in 1993.