41th César Awards Winners

So last night many of us were able to see LIVE the awards ceremony thanks to one of the below posts and yes, it was a very exciting entertainment experience with many laugh-hard moments thanks to very funny lady, Florence Foresti and to many of my favorite movies winning awards.

Why do I like when awards honor films I like? Because tells me that I still have the cinema bug, the métier, inside me. That still have the "eye" to see what is great in cinema and still can "recommend" what to see, even do I do no more reviews here (lol!). This is exactly what's bothering me from 2016 Oscars and what made last night almost 4 hours absolutely ecstatic!

Alright, admit that the last hour was too much and yes, I was a bit tired; there were some sketches that were too long and/or not much funny, which made harder to endure waiting until the next award. But what will NOT happen next Sunday is the moment when the winner was announced the excitement took over my being tired and got a big adrenaline shot that made me withstand anything until the next winner announcement. Sigh.

Before last night knew top acting awards were locked into two actors that gave good performances; but even me noticed that somehow is almost not-credible that Best Actress winner performance was above outstanding performances by Catherine Deneuve and Isabelle Huppert, or remarkable versatile Emmanuelle Bercot or the acting-debut of non-actor Sonia Zeroual and yes, the controversial role of Loubna Abidar and well, I highly enjoyed Cécile de France peformance, but maybe I'm totally biased. My point -and I do have one- is to say that Frot had a great role, one that is both dramatic as comedy and she performed both styles very well; her role had much visibility, greater than those of the other nominees in the category, that's why she won. Then we have Vincent Lindon that has been winning "everything" since Cannes 2016, a win that has made many very happy, including Marion Cotillard that took to Instagram to praise her colleague.

But what made me smile BIG was Benoît Magimel winning his first César since 1997 when he won the most promising actor award for Les voleurs. I really enjoy Magimel performances and for many years my favorite French cinema couple was Magimel and Binoche (were real life couple) but while Binoche went to cinema stratosphere Magimel remained in obscure -but entertaining- movies, sigh. Of course had a e-moment when camera went to Juliette Binoche who looked very emotional with Magimel win.

I really liked Mustang and even do was hoping for an historic double-win (Best Film and First Feature), I'm really pleased with the four honors given to this marvelous little/big film. Have to say that know Deniz Gamze Ergüven is probably right now flying to Los Angeles as she has to attend tomorrow's Oscars where I know most likely will lose to Saul Fia story. Along with Marguerite these are the two most-honored films last night where each collected four awards, but none was the top award that went to Fatima. So we can say that César was very magnanimous and distributed its cinema wealth among several great movies.

César award ceremony has changed thru the years and still recall the first time I saw it. which was absolute chaos and nothing related to entertainment; now has evolve into more entertainment event relying on comedic moments to ease the lenght of speeches and award after award. Tempted to make comparisons with Oscars ceremony but no, will do a post to vent before whatever happens Sunday, so let's close with a very positive feeling about a great awards ceremony from the cinema I love the most, French cinema.

If you wish to check winners at official site go here. Winners are in *BLUE.

Best Film
Dheepan, Jacques Audiard
Fatima, Philippe Faucon
La loi du marché (The Measure of a Man), Stéphane Brizé
Marguerite, Xavier Giannoli
Mon roi, Maïwenn
Mustang, Deniz Gamze Ergüven
La tête haute (Standing Tall), Emmanuelle Bercot
Trois souvenirs de ma jeunesse (My Golden Days), Arnaud Desplechin

Best Debut Film
L'affaire SK1 (SK1), Frédéric Tellier
Les Cowboys (Cowboys), Thomas Bidegain
*Mustang, Deniz Gamze Ergüven
Ni le ciel ni la terre (The Wakhan Front), Clément Cogitore
Nous trois ou rien (All Three of Us), Kheiron

Best Documentary Film
El botón de nácar (The Pearl Button), Patricio Guzmán
Cavanna, jusqu'à l'ultime seconde j'écrirai, Denis Robert and Nina Robert
*Demain (Tomorrow), Cyril Dion and Mélanie Laurent
L’image manquante (The Missing Picture), Rithy Panh
Une jeunesse allemande (A German Youth), Jean-Gabriel Périot

Best Animated Feature
Adama, Simon Rouby
Avril et le monde truqué (April and the Extraordinary World),Christian Desmares and Franck Ekinci
*Le Petit Prince(The Little Prince), Mark Osborne

Best Foreign Film
*Birdman, Alejandro González Iñárritu
Saul Fia (Son of Saul), Laszlo Nemes
Je suis mort mais j'ai des amis, Guillaume and Stéphane Malandrin
Mia Madre (My Mother), Nanni Moretti
Taxi, Jafar Panahi
Le Tout Nouveau Testament (The Brand New Testament), Jaco van Dormael
Youth, Paolo Sorrentino

Best Director
Jacques Audiard for Dheepan
Stéphane Brizé for La loi du marché (The Measure of a Man)
Xavier Giannoli for Marguerite
Maïwenn for Mon roi
Deniz Gamze Ergüven for Mustang
Emmanuelle Bercot for La tête haute (Standing Tall)
*Arnaud Desplechin for Trois souvenirs de ma jeunesse (My Golden Days)

Best Actress
Loubna Abidar in Zin li fik (Much Loved)
Emmanuelle Bercot in Mon roi
Cécile de France in La Belle Saison (Summertime)
Catherine Deneuve in La tête haute (Standing Tall)
*Catherine Frot in Marguerite
Isabelle Huppert in Valley of Love
Soria Zeroual in Fatima

Best Supporting Actress
Sara Forestier in La tête haute (Standing Tall)
Agnès Jaoui in Comme un avion (The Sweet Escape)
*Sidse Babett Knudsen in L'Hermine (Courted)
Noémie Lvovsky in La Belle Saison (Summertime)
Karin Viard in 21 nuits avec Pattie (21 Nights with Pattie)

Most Promising Actress
Camille Cottin in Connasse, princesse des cœurs (The Parisian Bitch)
Sara Giraudeau in Les bêtises
*Zita Hanrot in Fatima
Diane Rouxel in La tête haute (Standing Tall)
Lou Roy-Lecollinet in Trois souvenirs de ma jeunesse (My Golden Days)

Best Actor
Jean-Pierre Bacri in La vie très privée de monsieur Sim (The Very Private Life of Mister Sim)
Vincent Cassel in Mon roi
François Damiens in Les Cowboys (Cowboys)
Gérard Depardieu in Valley of Love
Anthonythasan Jesuthasan in Dheepan
*Vincent Lindon in La loi du marché (The Measure of a Man)
Fabrice Luchini in L'Hermine (Courted)

Best Supporting Actor
Michel Fau in Marguerite
Louis Garrel in Mon roi
*Benoît Magimel in La tête haute (Standing Tall)
André Marcon in Marguerite
Vincent Rottiers in Dheepan

Most Promising Actor
Swann Arlaud in Les Anarchistes
Quentin Dolmaire in Trois souvenirs de ma jeunesse (My Golden Days)
Félix Moati in À trois on y va (All About Them)
Finnegan Oldfield in Les Cowboys (Cowboys)
*Rod Paradot in La tête haute (Standing Tall)

Best Original Screenplay
Noé Debré, Thomas Bidegain and Jacques Audiard for Dheepan
Xavier Giannoli for Marguerite
*Deniz Gamze Ergüven and Alice Winocour for Mustang
Emmanuelle Bercot and Marcia Romano for La tête haute (Standing Tall)
Arnaud Desplechin and Julie Peyr for Trois souvenirs de ma jeunesse (My Golden Days)

Best Adaptation
David Oelhoffen and Frétéric Tellier for L'affaire SK1 (SK1)
Samuel Benchetrit for Asphalte (Macadam Stories)
Vincent Garenq and Stéphane Cabel for L'enquête (The Clearstream Affair
*Philippe Faucon for Fatima
Hélène Zimmer and Benoît Jacquot for Journal d'une femme de chambre (Diary of a Chambermaid)

Best Cinematography
Eponine Momenceau for Dheepan
Glynn Speeckaert for Marguerite
David Chizallet for Mustang
Irina Lubtchansky for Trois souvenirs de ma jeunesse (My Golden Days)
*Christophe Offenstein for Valley of Love

Best Editing
Juliette Welfling for Dheepan
Cyril Nakache for Marguerite
Simon Jacquet for Mon roi
*Mathilde Van de Moortel for Mustang
Laurence Briaud for Trois souvenirs de ma jeunesse (My Golden Days)

Best Original Score
Raphaël for Les Cowboys (Cowboys)
Ennio Morricone for En mai, fais ce qu'il te plaît
Stephen Warbek for Mon roi
*Warren Ellis for Mustang
Grégoire Hetzel for Trois souvenirs de ma jeunesse (My Golden Days)

Best Sound
Daniel Sorbino, Valérie Deloof and Cyril Holtz for Dheepan
*François Musy and Gabriel Hafner for Marguerite
Nicolas Provost, Agnès Ravez and Emmanuel Croset for Mon roi
Ibrahim Gök, Damien Guillaume and Olivier Goinard for Mustang
Nicolas Cantin, Sylvie Malbrant and Stéphane Thiébaut for Trois souvenirs de ma jeunesse (My Golden Days)

Best Costumes
Anaïs Romand for Journal d'une femme de chambre (Diary of a Chambermaid)
*Pierre-Jean Laroque for Marguerite
Selin Sözen for Mustang
Catherine Leterrier for L'odeur de la mandarine (The Scent of Mandarine)
Nathalie Raoul for Trois souvenirs de ma jeunesse (My Golden Days)

Best Production Design
Michel Barthélémy for Dheepan
Katia Wyszkop for Journal d'une femme de chambre (Diary of a Chambermaid)
*Martin Kurel for Marguerite
Jean Rabasse for L'odeur de la mandarine (The Scent of Mandarine
Toma Baqueni for Trois souvenirs de ma jeunesse (My Golden Days)

Best Animated Short
La nuit américaine d'Angélique, Pierre-Emmanuel Lyet and Joris Clerté
*Le repas dominical (Sunday Lunch), Céline Devaux
Sous tes doigts, Marie-Christine Courtès
Tigres à la queue leu leu, Benoît Chieux

Best Short Film
*La contre-allée (Back Alley), Cécile Ducrocq
Le dernier des Céfrancs (The Last of the Frenchmen), Pierre-Emmanuel Urcun
Essaie de mourir jeune, Morgan Simon
Guy Moquet, Demis Herenger
Mon héros, Sylvain Desclous

Best Moments Video



The Complete Awards Ceremony Video



To check the official announcement go here available only in French and as a pdf file or go here for a friendlier list with links to info about each movie.  All films with at least one nomination will be screened from February 10 to 16 at Le Balzac cinema and from Febraury 17 to 23 at Les 3 Luxembourg cinema. The second round of votes will give the winners that will be announced at the awards ceremony on Friday, February 26 .



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2/26/16
Will update LIVE as soon as winners are announced. Will comment tomorrow.  A bit tired after a long ceremony...
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1/27/16
This morning in Fouquet's restaurant on Champs Elysees the Academy President Alain Terzian held a press conference to announce the nominations for the current edition of the awards that honor French cinema. Along with Florence Foresti, who will be hosting the ceremony, announced the 118 nominees in the #César2016.

This year the Honorary César goes to Michael Douglas and the award will be presented on Friday, February 26 at Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris with Florence Foresti hosting the ceremony for the very first time.

There are 50 films plus 113 artists and technicians with a nomination from the 4,509 Academy members that could vote and that selected them from a total of 642 films and 3,625 people submitted for consideration for this edition.

Marguerite leads the pack with 11 nominations followed closely by Trois souvenirs de ma jeunesse with 10, Dheepan and Mustang with 9 each, then Mon roi and La Tête haute with 8 nominations each. Out of these six films only one was not in 2015 Cannes as Marguerite premiered in Venice 2015.

This year there are some interesting stats but believe none are more relevant in the world cinema industry than the unusual presence of nominated female directors, as out of the seven (7) Best Director nominees three (3) are female: Emmanuelle Bercot, Deniz Gamze Ergüven and Maïwenn; also noteworthy is that out of the eight (8) Best Film nominees, three (3) are by the same female directors.



Most remarkable are the 14th nomination for Catherine Deneuve (13 Actress, 1 Supporting Actress) plus Isabelle Huppert with her 15th time (13 Actress, 2 Supporting Actress); both have already won before, Deneuve in 1981 and 1992, Huppert in 1996. Consequently there are five actresses haven't collected a César in the Best Actress category, but Cécile de France has 2 Césars (Supporting Actress, Female Newcomer) and is her 6th nomination (4 Actress, 1 Supporting Actress, 1 Newcomer) worth-noting that in 2007 she got 2 nominations for Best Actress for 2 different movies; Catherine Frot already has 1 César for Supporting Role and is her 10th nomination (7 Best Actress, 3 Supporting Actress); Emmanuele Bercot had 1 nomination (Original Screenplay) before the 4 (Actress, Original Screenplay, Director and Best Film) she collected today. So there are only 2 nominated actresses that collected their first nomination ever: Loubna Abidar and Soria Zeroual.

Gérard Depardieu collects his 17th nomination (all  Actor), he already won twice in 1981 and 1991; also with a win in 2009 Vincent Cassel collects his 5th nomination (4  Actor, 1 Male Newcomer).