The 51st annual Cesar Awards had a Hollywood feel to it, with Richard Linklater winning Best Director for “Nouvelle Vague,” a love letter to the French film movement known as the New Wave.
The film, which Netflix won at its world premiere in Cannes, led the race with 10 nominations, winning Best Director, Best Cinematography for David Chamville, Best Costumes for Pascaline Chavannes, and Best Editing for Katherine Schwartz. The Cesar Awards, France’s equivalent of the Oscars and BAFTAs, were held at the Olympia Theater in Paris on Thursday, and several political issues were raised in speeches, from the Iran crisis to the threat of AI to pressure on the French film financing system.
In a surprising development, Carine Tardieu’s L’attachement, a drama based on Alice Farney’s L’Intimité, won the award for best picture. L’attachement had its world premiere in Venice, starring Valeria Bruni Tedeschi and Pio Marmai. Tardieu defeated Linklater, Jafar Panahi (“It Was Just an Accident”), Dominik Mol (“Case 136”) and Hafsia Helge (“The Little Sister”). This intimate drama won Best Original Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress for Vimala Pons.
Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Once Battle After Another” won the Cesar Award for Best International Feature, beating out Joachim Trier’s “Sentimental Value,” Oliver Lacks’ “Silat,” Kleber Mendonça Filho’s “The Secret Agent,” and Guan Hu’s “Black Dog.”
Jim Carrey, who replaced Julia Roberts as this year’s recipient of the honorary Cesar Award, gave a moving speech entirely in French, introduced by Michel Gondry, who directed Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind 22 years ago.
“As an actor, each character you play is like clay in a sculptor’s hands, shaping it to your heart’s desires. I’ve been so fortunate to share this art with so many people who have truly opened up to me,” Carey said in French with a thick American accent. “About 300 years ago, (his) great, great, great, great grandfather, Marc-François Carré, was born in Saint-Malo, France,” he said, and immigrated to Canada. The actor, who attended the event with his daughter Jane, grandson Jackson and girlfriend Mina, said: “Tonight, this square (caré in French) has come full circle with this great honor.”
At the beginning of the ceremony, French actor Benjamin Laverne, the master of ceremonies, shed tears as he introduced Carey and Canal+ boss Maxime Saada, who was sitting next to his family. Laverne paid homage to “The Mask,” donning the character’s iconic yellow suit and impersonating Jim Carrey, and performed a wide-ranging, powerful musical show. It was the kickoff to the most extravagant Cesar ceremony in recent history.
Camille Cotin (“Call My Agent!”) hosted the show, delivering a sharp and sarcastic monologue aimed at mounting criticism of the National Film Commission (CNC) and France’s film subsidy system at a time when box office sales are tight.
Cottin ridiculed those who ask French filmmakers to make more profitable films. “As of today, any director who makes a movie that gets less than 500,000 people in attendance would have to publicly apologize and go back to school, business school, to relearn his craft,” she joked. As for arthouse films, she quipped, “Of course I’ll keep making them, but as short films. Ten minutes max. And avoid niche themes like women, gays, immigration, nature, peace. They’re boring.”
Her speech then took on a harsher tone. “It pains me to imagine a world where thought itself could be killed. Culture, universities, research, journalism, these are our lungs. They keep us alive. Without them, we suffocate or turn against each other.”
“French cinema is very alive. It’s alive and fragile. In fact, I think it’s alive because it’s fragile. For some wonders to emerge, you have to make a lot of films. You have to train a lot of people to strive for excellence. And precisely because art is fragile, we have to protect it,” she said.
Other César winners included Stéphane Demoustier’s historical drama “The Great Arches,” starring Claes Bang, which won best special effects for Lise Fisher and best art for Catherine Cosmet. Meanwhile, Herzi’s queer coming-of-age story The Little Sister won Nadia Metti’s Best Female Newcomer award. Thierry Klifa’s The Richest Woman in the World, a film loosely based on the 2010 Bettencourt scandal, won Best Actor for Laurent Laffite. Hugo Bienvenue’s poetic animated feature “Arco,” produced by Natalie Portman, won the award for Best Animated Feature. Pierre Lotin won Best Supporting Actor for François Ozon’s The Stranger, an adaptation of Albert Camus’ classic. Pauline Roquez’s “Nino” won Best First Film and Best Actor for Theodor Pellerin.
Isabelle Huppert, who played a flashy, wealthy heiress in “The Richest Woman in the World,” lost out to Lee Drucker, who won the best actress award for “Case 137,” Mol’s procedural drama set during the Yellow Jacket protests in Paris.
The ceremony also included a tribute to French icon Brigitte Bardot, who passed away on December 28, and a reel of cult scenes from films such as “And God Created Woman” and “Contempt” was shown.
The award ceremony took place just hours after Catherine Pégard was appointed as France’s new culture minister, replacing Rashida Dati. At the ceremony, Emmanuel Courtil, the voice of the French version of Jim Carrey, greeted Mr. Pegard and spoke about the urgent need to protect voice actors from the growing threat of artificial intelligence.
Kartil said stars like Jim Carrey must be dubbed by actors with “human voices, human emotions for human audiences, not artificial intelligence”, adding: “We have a real bond with our people. 85% of French audiences watch movies in the French version.”
“We need laws that protect artists and the public, not the interests of big tech,” he continued.
Politics resurfaced at the ceremony, when Iranian actor Golshifteh Farahani gave an impassioned speech condemning the Islamic Republic’s violent crackdown on nationwide protests that led to thousands of deaths and mass arrests.
“Tonight, in this glittering room, all eyes are on a stage filled with stars, but my heart is elsewhere, in a country where the stars have turned to dust, blood, or silence,” Farahani said. “Recently, the regime has killed tens of thousands of people in the most brutal ways. Many others have been injured, arrested and tortured. The entire country is in mourning. Thousands of innocent lives have been taken.”
Presenting the award for best screenplay to Cesar, she praised Panahi as “one of the greatest symbols of resistance in cinema.”
“He was imprisoned and prohibited from filming. Yet he continued to create under oppression and censorship. And that is exactly the spirit of the Iranian people,” she said. Panahi’s latest film, “It Was Just an Accident,” was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Original Screenplay and Best International Feature Film.
The winners of the 51st Cesar Awards (in bold) are:
Best movie award
Karine Tardieu “Attachment”
“Case 137” Dominic Moll
“Nouvelle Vague, Richard Linklater”
“Little Sister” Hafsia Herzi
“It was just an accident” Jafar Panahi
Best Director Award
Karine Tardieu “Attachments”
Dominic Moll “Case 137”
Stéphane Demoustier “Great Arch”
Richard Linklater “Nouvelle Vague”
Hafsia Helzi “Little Sister”
Best Actress Award
Leila Bekhti “Ma Mère, Dieu, Sylvie Vartan”
Valeria Bruni Tedeschi “L’attachement”
Rhea Drucker “Case 137”
Isabelle Huppert “The richest woman in the world”
Melanie Thierry “La Chambre de Mariana”
Best Actor Award
Claes Bang “Great Arch”
Bastien Bouillon “Leave One Day”
Laurent Lafitte: “The richest woman in the world”
Pio Marmai “L’attachement”
Benjamin Voisin “The Stranger”
Best Supporting Actress Award
Jeanne Balibar “Nino”
Dominique Blanc “Partir en Jour”
Marina Foyth: “The richest woman in the world”
Park Jimin “La Petit Dernière”
Vimala Pons “Attachment”
Best Supporting Actor Award
Swann Arlow “The Great Arch”
Xavier Dolan “The Great Arch”
Michelle Faux “Great Arch”
Pierre Lotin “The Stranger”
Raphael Personas “The richest women in the world”
Best Female Newcomer Award
Manon Clavel “Kika”
Suzanne Lindon “La Venue de l’Avenir”
Nadia Meriti “La Petit Dernière”
Camille Rutherford “Jane Austen a Gachet Ma Vie”
Anja Verderosa “L’Épreuve du Feu”
Best Male Newcomer Award
Idil Azuguri “Meteor”
Sayyed El Alami “La Pampa”
Felix Lefebvre “L’Épreuve du Feu”
Guillaume Malbec “Nouvelle Vague”
Theodore Pellerin “Nino”
Best Original Screenplay Award
Dominique Mol, Gilles Marchand, “Case 137”
Pauline Roques “Nino”
Holly Gent, Vince Palma “Nouvelle Vague”
Frank Dubosc, Sarah Kaminsky “Un Ours Dans le Jura”
Jafar Panahi: “It was just an accident”
Best Screenplay Award
Karine Tardieu, Raphael Moussafir, Agnès Houvre “Attachment”
Stéphane Demoustier “Great Arch”
Hafsia Helzi “Little Sister”
Best Animated Work Award
“Little Amelie, or the rain character”
“Arco”
“My life in a castle: growing up in Versailles”
Best International Film Award
“Secret Agent” Kleber Mendonça Filho
“Black Dog” Guan Fu
“Sirat” Oliver Lux
“The battles come one after the other” Paul Thomas Anderson
Joachim Trier “Sentimental Value”
Best original score
Arnaud Toulon “Arco”
Olivier Marguerite “Case 137”
Fatima Al Qadiri “The Stranger”
Alex Beaupain: “The richest woman in the world”
Amin Bouhafa “The Little Sister”
best sound
“Arco”, Nicolas Becker, Andrea Ferrera, Damian Lazzerini
“Le Chant des Forêts” Romain Cadillac, Marc Nambrad, Olivier Touche, Olivier Goinard
“Case 137”, Francois Morel, Rim Debar Mounir, Nathalie Vidal
“Nouvelle Vague” Jean Minonde, Serge Lecouailol, Christophe Ventrinier
“Leave One Day” Remi Chanot, Jeanne Delplanco, Fanny Martin, Niels Baretta
Best Cinematography Award
Erin Kirschfink “L’attachement”
Patrick Giringeri “Case 137”
Marine Atran “L’Engloutie”
Manu Dacose “The Stranger”
David Chamville “Nouvelle Vague”
Best editing award
Stan Collette “13 Hours, 13 Nuits”
Christel Duwinter “L’attachement”
Laurent Rouhan “Case 137”
Katherine Schwartz “Nouvelle Vague”
Geraldine Manjuno “Little Sister”
Best Costume Design Award
Celine Guignard “La Conditioning”
Corinne Blouin “Dracula”
Jürgen Doering: “The richest woman in the world”
Pascaline Chavannes “Nouvelle Vague”
Pierre-Yves Gaylot “La Venue de l’Avenir”
Best Production Design Award
Jean-Philippe Moreau “Dog 51”
Catherine Cosme “Inconnu of Grande Arche”
Lyton Dupyre-Clément “Once Upon My Mother”
Katia Wischkopf “Nouvelle Vague”
Marie Schminel “La Venue de l’Avenir”
Best visual effect
Cedric Fayol “Dog 51”
Rodolphe Chabrier, Benoît de Longlais “L’Homme qui Rétrécit”
Lise Fischer “Great Arch”
Alan Carsuth “Nouvelle Vague”
Best virgin film award
“Arco” Hugo Bienvenu
Aurelien Peil “Hearts on Fire”
“Nino” Pauline Roquez
“Block Pass” Antoine Chevrolier
“Leave One Day” Amélie Bonnin
