Disclaimer: I’m a blind film critic. Neon has made the choice to not create or provide an accessible English Audio description track for this film. Typically, blind and low vision moviegoers would use this to get all the visual aesthetics translated through a secondary audio track on an assistive device.

I was nervous about Neon’s reliance on International titles going into awards season. it isn’t that they haven’t produced audio description for titles not in the English language. They managed to wake up on Anatomy Of a fall in time to help that get audio description for Oscar season.However, they are also responsible for Best Picture winning Parasite, which spent its Oscar season sans accessibility.

Marlee Matlin has done an excellent job advocating for captioning,so in the extremely rare occasion that a title doesn’t have it, it becomes far easier to boycott titles without captioning. had the Oscars boycotted titles without English Audio Description for blind and low vision audiences, the categories would have looked radically different. Nearly every category was affected by a choice to not have audio description this year, a rather unprecedented event considering how audio description is actually becoming a bit more commonplace. Films now even go to Sundance with audio description, even before being acquired.

A rep from neon, when I reached out back in early November gave me the usual nonsense about finances and time. First, if you can spend millions on Oscar campaigns, you have a couple thousand for accessibility. You just do. I’v heard audio description on tiny films, because the director made it a priority. Certainly Neon, who won Best Picture last year, is a major enough studio to be able to be accessible.

Not a single International title had audio description this year. Some had dub tracks, but not one film, regardless of studio, dropped with audio description. considering how these films are bleeding out into major categories more and more, this is a problem. Two Best Picture nominees, both neon releases, 1 director, 1 Lead actor, 1 Lead actress, 1 Supporting Actor, 2 Supporting Actress, 1 Casting, 2 original Screenplays, 1 Animated feature, 2 Documentary features, All International Features, 1 Cinematography, 2 Makeup, 1 Editing, and 1 in Sound. That means the categories where a blind or low vision cinephile could have watched all the nominees were Adapted Screenplay, Costume Design, Score, and Visual Effects. I’m pretty sure Diane Warrren: Relentless did not have audio description in Best Original Song, but I doubt anyone who voted for it saw her movie to begin with.

And, thanks to a banner year for Neon, who got four of the five International Oscar nominees, this was nearly entirely their fault. Had Neon decided accessibility was important, the only remaining offending titles would be in Animated Feature, Documentary Feature, International Feature, and Makeup, almost completely turning the tables. Instead of four accessible, it would become four inaccessible, with four of the five International titles gaining description in that category.

It is amazing how much the decision of likely one or two individuals can so dramatically effect the outcome for an entirely disenfranchised population. And if Neon continues the trend of picking up hot International titles and running their campaigns, it could be a perpetual problem moving forward. I’ve already said my peace on It Was Just An Accident and The Secret Agent, but I really wanted to nail sentimental Value.

Here is a film with recognizable actors to American audiences, immediately making it sellable domestically. Elle Fanning was starring in Predator: Badlands at the same time this opened in limited release. Stellan Skarsgard has starred in many American titles, but notably was in Thor, and has popped up throughout the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And did you know Renate Reinsve was supposed to be in Weapons? The actress who surprised a few years ago at the Globes is making more and more English language titles, having starred last year in A Different Man with Sebastian Stan. So, unlike the other films, where convincing Americans there is a star here, that problem is alleviated.

Also, did you know the film has quite a bit of English in it? Fanning’s entire performance is in English, as she plays an American actress brought over to star in this film. Her character of Rachel has an outsider appeal, which could have been sold through any country of origin, yet director Joachim Trier actually picked an American. He could have gone British, or Australian, and still kept his English, but he chose an American actress.

An estimated 95% of people in Norway speak Norwegian, while 87% also speak English. It is a highly bilingual country, with residents often slipping in and out of English and Norwegian. You can feel that in the film, as you see Skarsgard’s Gustav slip in and out, even when not talking to Fanning.

And, Neon had the time. They picked the film up from Cannes in May, and released it in the fall. Not only is that by far enough time, but other Cannes titles released prior from other studios with audio description, as Sony Pictures Classics made a track for Eleanor The Great, which opened in September, and MUBI made one for Die My Love, which opened at nearly the same time. More than any of their titles, it is deeply troubling, extremely frustrating, and honestly hurtful that they couldn’t even make the most obvious choice. Of course I want all titles accessible, but this film has a lot of reasons why it should have been a sure thing, yet it wasn’t.

Shockingly, despite not making an audio description track for their five International titles that were chosen for the Oscars by their various countries, they did manage to put audio description this weekend on Alpha. Interestingly, this wasn’t offered to me back when I asked, despite being considered for the 2025 awards season. So, they do audio description for French horror titles, but not an Elle Fanning film nominated for Best Picture.

I wish any of this made sense. But the fact is, if I’m the only one shouting into the wind on this, then I’m easy to ignore. I’ve actually sat through this film twice, once on a screener, and a second time on Hulu. I really did try with this film. It has so much potential, but with large sections of the film that I can’t understand, including the entire performance of Oscar nominee Inga Ibesdter Lillias. Her character speaks exclusively in Norwegian, while the others at least step over into English a few times.

It’s hard to define what value there is to sentimentality when the feature in question is inaccessible to a chunk of its audience, thus answering a different question on values, and how Neon views a portion of its potential audience.

This is a world that has become increasingly agitated when they hear a word like “inclusivity”, and as a result, gaps in accessibility start to rise up, and if we don’t say anything, they’ll become more and more commonplace. I’m human, I love movies, and I would have loved to watch this film as well as the rest of Neon’s slate. I look forward to seeing Alpha with audio description. If so many Norwegians also speak English, you would think the benefits of having an audio description track in both languages would be the easy choice. And, had Trier supported the creation of these tracks prior to Cannes, it is possible Neon would have used the already created accessibility.

Accessibility matters.

Final Grade: Rotten