Amour and Rust and Bone are up for best non-English language film alongside Untouchable.

BBC: Baftas 2013 analysis: Will Skyfall have licence to thrill?

So is Rust and Bone star Marion Cotillard, who has also been nominated for a Bafta for her performance.

BBC: Emmanuelle Riva

Rust and Bone, about a whale trainer whose life is irrevocably changed by a tragic accident, has nine nominations in all.

BBC: Emmanuelle Riva

The lead actress category sees Amour's Emmanuelle Riva - who plays a retired music teacher in Paris who suffers a stroke - up against Marion Cotillard's killer-whale trainer who suffers a catastrophic accident in Rust and Bone.

BBC: Baftas 2013 analysis: Will Skyfall have licence to thrill?

Because her base is in France, and "will ever be, " Cotillard manages to balance Hollywood blockbusters with quieter French films, like the forthcoming Rust and Bone, directed by Jacques Audiard ("he sculpts life in the shape of movies") and Little White Lies, helmed by Canet.

WSJ: Marion Cotillard's Sultry Side