Movie On: 43rd César Awards Winners

Last night the French Academy had their award ceremony and no, was not able to watch it live but as expected the big winner of the night was BPM as collected 6 awards but was followed very closely by See You Up There with 5.

What I really regret is not watching live the surprise appearance by Marion Cotillard to present along with Pedro Almodovar the Honorary César to Penelope Cruz, sigh. Also, there are not many opportunities to see Juliette Binoche, Isabelle Huppert and Marion Cotillard in one and the same event!!! But I'm watching videos and as soon as full awards ceremony video becomes available will include it in post.

Was not aware there was an event president this year -after what happened last year; but yes, there was a presented as such by Many Payet, Vanessa Paradis who opened the ceremony and gave remarkable homage to Jeanne Moreau. Video is at post bottom. Trying to see homages for Mireille Darc and Johnny Hallyday, but haven't been able to find clips, so will wait until full video is available.

There were some unexpected surprises but most -if not all- were unpleasant as hardly can understand why fantastic Visages Villages didn't win or more relevant, amazing Raw was ignored. Sigh.

Winners are in *BLUE.

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1/31/18
Today Alain Terzian, President of the French Academy of Cinema Arts and Techniques and Many Payet, awards ceremony host, announced during a breakfast press conference at Fouquet's restaurant on the Champs-Elysees in Paris the nominees for the 2018 edition of the awards that honor films released during 2017.

Terzain congratulated Agnes Varda for her honorary Oscar and also her nomination in the best documentary category with Faces Places. He also praised 2017 as a great year for French cinema abroad and unveiled a new award this year, the Audience Award (César du Public) that will be given to the film with more tickets sold in cinemas during a 10-week period in 2017.

The awards ceremony will take place on March 2 at Salle Pleyel in Paris and will be broadcast live on Canal+. Vanessa Paradis will open the ceremony dedicated to Jeanne Moreau where Penelpe Cruz will receive an Honorary César.

Cannes Grand Prix winner 120 BPM and See You Up There lead with 13 nominations each followed by C'est la Vie with 10. Many find remarkable that a comedy was able to collect 10 nominations and another box office success Le Brio by Yvan Attal was honored with a best film nomination.

Once again the acting categories assure the awards ceremony presence of many well-known actors like Juliette Binoche (get her tenth nomination), Charlotte Gainsbourg, Daniel Auteuil, Guillaume Canet and Louis Garrel which obviously attracts many, including me, to check what goes on as with a couple of exceptions most honored films are not really my cup-of-tea and do not belong to what I call great French cinema as they tend to be normal, leaning toward entertaining more than anything else. Sigh.

The 4,680 academy members will now vote in the second round to select a winner. According to press reports only 60% voted in the first round, so perhaps the second round could attract more voters.

The exercise gave me a couple of films that will check one in the foreign film category, Noces and another in the best actor as was not aware that Marion Cotillard was in a film by Guillaume Canet and with him in the lead, Rock 'n Roll. Some comment that Cotillard should have been nominated in a supporting role and her quebecois accent (!?) ... I'm curious.

The Nominees

Best Film
*120 battements par minute (120 BPM), Robin Campillo
Au revoir là-haut (See You Up There), Albert Dupontel
Barbara, Mathieu Amalric
Le brio, Yvan Attal
Le sens de la fête (C'est la Vie!), Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache
Patients, Grand Corps Malade and Mehdi Idir
Petit paysan (Bloody Milk), Hubert Charuel

Best Debut Film
Grave (Raw), Julia Ducornau
Jeune femme (Montparnasse Bienvenue), Leonor Serraille,
Monsieur & Madame Adelman (Mr. & Mrs. Adelman), Nicolas Bedos
Patients, Grand Corps Malade and Mehdi Idir
*Petit paysan (Bloody Milk), Hubert Charuel

Best Documentary Film
12 jours (12 Days), Raymond Depardon
À voix haute, la force de la parole, Stéphane de Freitas and Ladj Ly
Carré 35, Eric Caravaca
*I am not your negro, Raoul Peck
Visages, Villages (Faces Places), Agnès Varda and JR

Best Animated Feature
*Le Grand Méchant Renard et autres contes... (The Big Bad Fox and Other Tales), Benjamin Renner and Patrick Imbert
Sahara, Pierre Pierre Coré
Zombillénium (Zombillenium), Arthur de Pins and Alexis Ducord

Best Foreign Film
Le Caire confidentiel (The Nile Hilton Incident), Tarik Saleh, Sweden, Germany and Netherlands
Dunkirk, Christopher Nolan, UK, Netherlands, France and USA
L'échange des princesses (The Royal Exchange), Marc Dugain, France and Belgium
*Nelyubov (Loveless), Adnrey Zvyagintsev, Russia, France, Germany and Belgium
La La Land, Damien Chazelle, USA
Noces (A Wedding), Stephan Streker, Belgium, Pakistan, Luxembourg and France
The Square, Ruben Östlund, Sweden, Germany, France and Denmark

Best Director
Robin Campillo for 120 battements par minute (120 BPM)
*Albert Dupontel for Au revoir là-haut (See You Up There)
Mathieu Amalric for Barbara
Julia Ducournau for Grave (Raw)
Hubert Charuel for Petit paysan (Bloody Milk)
Michel Hazanavicius for Le Redoutable (Redoubtable)
Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache for Le sens de la fête (C'est la Vie!)

Best Actress
*Jeanne Balibar in Barbara
Juliette Binoche in Un beau soleil intérieur (Let the Sunshine In)
Emmanuelle Devos in Numéro Une (Number One)
Marina Foïs in L'Atelier
Charlotte Gainsbourg in La Promesse de l'Aube (Promise at Dawn)
Doria Tillier in Monsieur & Madame Adelman (Mr. & Mrs. Adelman)
Karine Viard in Jalouse

Best Supporting Actress
Laure Calamy in Ava
Anaïs Demoustier in La Villa
*Sara Giraudeau in Petit Paysan (Bloody Milk)
Adèle Haenel in 120 Battements par minute (120 BPM)
Mélanie Thierry in Au revoir là-haut (See You Up There)

Most Promising Actress
Iris Bry in Les Gardiennes (The Guardians)
Laetitia Dosch in Jeune Femme (Montparnasse Bienvenue)
Eye Haïdara in Le Sens de la fête (C'est la Vie!)
*Camélia Jordana in Le Brio
Garance Marillier in Grave (Raw)

Best Actor
*Swann Arlaud in Petit Paysan (Bloody Milk)
Daniel Auteuil in Le Brio
Jean-Pierre Bacri in Le Sens de la fête (C'est la Vie!)
Guillaume Canet in Rock n' Roll (Rock'n'Roll)
Albert Dupontel in Au revoir là-haut (See You Up There)
Louis Garrel in Le Redoutable (Redoubtable)
Reda Kateb in Django

Best Supporting Actor
Niels Arestrup in Au revoir là-haut (See You Up There)
Laurent Lafitte in Au revoir là-haut (See You Up There)
Gilles Lellouche in Le Sens de la fête (C'est la Vie!)
Vincent Macaigne in Le Sens de la fête (C'est la Vie!)
*Antoine Reinartz in 120 Battements par minut (120 BPM)

Most Promising Actor
Benjamin Lavernhe in Le sens de la fête (C'est la Vie!)
Finnegan Oldfield in Marvin ou la Belle Education (Reinventing Marvin)
Pablo Pauly in Patients
*Nahuel Perez Biscayart in 120 Battements par minute (120 BPM)
Arnaud Valois in 120 Battements par minute (120 BPM)

Best Original Screenplay
*120 battements par minute
Barbara
Grave
Petit paysan
Le sens de la fête

Best Adaptation
*Au revoir là-haut
Les gardiennes
Patients
La Promesse de l'aube
Le Redoutable

Best Cinematography
120 battements par minute (120 BPM)
*Au revoir là-haut (See You Up There)
Barbara
Les gardiennes (The Guardians)
Le Redoutable (Redoubtdable)

Best Editing
*120 battements par minute
Au revoir là-haut
Barbara
Petit Paysan
Le Sens de la fête

Best Original Score
*120 battements par minute
Au revoir là-haut
Grave
Petit Paysan
Visages villages

Best Sound
120 battements par minute
Au revoir là-haut
*Barbara
Grave
Le sens de la fête

Best Costume
120 battements par minute
*Au revoir là-haut
Barbara
Les gardiennes
La Promesse de l'aube

Best Production Design
120 battements par minute
*Au revoir là-haut
Barbara
La promesse de l'aube
Le redoutable

Best Short Film
*Les bigorneaux, Alice Vial
Le bleu blanc rouge de mes cheveux, Josza Anjembe
Debout Kinshasa!, Sebastien Maitre
Marlon, Jessica Palud
Les misérables, Ladj Ly

Best Animated Short
Le futur sera chauve, Paul Gabon
I Want Pluto to be a Planet Again, Marie Amachoukeli and Vladimir Mavounia-Kouka
Le jardin de minuit, Benoit Chieux
*Pépé le morse, Lucrece Andreae

Honorary César: Penelope Cruz
César du Public: Raid Dingue, Dany Boon

To check nominees at official site go here and open a pdf file.