Four months to go and we are already deep into Oscar gossip. Pundits were taken aback when Fox Searchlight announced it was pulling forward the US release of Hitchcock, Sacha Gervasi’s study of the making of Psycho, from early 2013 to late November of this year.

Remember when we made snorting noises at the news that Warners was bumping Baz Lurmann’s The Great Gatsby forward to the summer? Whereas that suggested a lack of confidence, Fox’s move implies the studio is confident of a shot at the Oscars with the Gervasi picture. Anthony Hopkins plays Hitchcock and Helen Mirren is Alma, his indomitable wife, in Sacha’s follow up to the divine Anvil! The Story of Anvil.

Elsewhere, there was some frowning at intelligence emerging from the body charged with selecting the French nominee for best foreign- language picture. Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano’s Untouchable (reviewed on page 12) has been a staggering smash in its home country. It could even be the highest grossing film ever released in a language other than English. It was, however, expected that the board would go for something a little less commercial, such as Jacques Audiard’s Rust and Bone or Leos Carax’s Holy Motors (also raved about on page 11).

In case you’re wondering, Michael Haneke’s Amour – although entirely filmed in France with a wholly French cast – is being put forward as the Austrian nominee.

What a ludicrous system. Just nominate the five best films and abandon all this prematch juggling.