'Amour' Gains a Euro Prize, and Perhaps Momentum The European Film Awards - a polling of 2,500 professional across the continent - were handed down over the weekend, and it was a near-sweep for Michael Hanecke's "Amour," named the best feature. The tale of an elderly Parisian dealing with his wife's dementia, it also won top prizes for its stars, Jean-Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva, and best director for Mr. Haneke, the Austrian filmmaker and frequent Cannes champion best known for "The White Ribbon" and other cinematic tragedies. "Amour" is, as our colleague Larry Rohter wrote, the front-runner for the best foreign-language Oscar. But Sony Pictures Classics, which is distributing "Amour" in the United States, is trying to making a case for other prizes, including best actress for Ms. Riva, who has been working steadily since making her mark in the French new wave, and best actor for Mr. Trintignant. It's worth a shot at other categories: last season, the Iranian film "A Separation" earned an original screenplay nod, the first foreign-language film in five years to do so. It also won best foreign film. The European cinéastes tend to favor artier fare than the Academy -- last year, their top choice was "Melancholia," which wound up not even placing in the Oscar race. Still, any momentum is good news for "Amour," a serious and meticulously created film about a difficult subject that is angling for eyeballs anyway it can.