François Cluzet (who turned in such a great performance as a millionaire paraplegic in “Les Intouchables”) and much-loved Belgian actress Cécile de France were respectively maître and maîtresse de cérémonies at the 39th edition of the annual Césars awards from the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris last night
The ceremony is the parallel of the more famous American cinematic awards – the Oscars – that take place on the same weekend, where the Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma recompenses the best and brightest in the wonderful world of French cinema.
The night undoubtedly belonged to 42-year-old Guillaume Gallienne. The man who first cut his acting teeth appearing in commercials for the likes of Volkswagen in the 1990s walked away with no fewer than five Césars for his début feature film “Les Garçons et Guillaume, à table!” (Me, Myself and Mum). The semi-biographical hit comedy has been a runaway commercial success in France since its release late last year and Gallienne wrote and directed the film, in which he also plays both the parts of the fictional Guillaume and Guillaume’s mother.
American actress Scarlett Johansson added a little flavour of Hollywood glamour to the occasion when she stepped up to receive the César d’Honneur, whilst West Cork resident Jeremy Irons presented the Best Actress award.
The night was also noteworthy for the appearance of President François Hollande’s special friend Julie Gayet. Since the furore over the much-publicised affair and break-up with Valérie Trierweiler, Ms Gayet has been keeping an exceptionally low public profile for such a prominent actress. Nominated in the Best Supporting Actress category (coincidentally alongside Nicolas Sarkozy’s mother-in-law), it was thought that she might not even brave the cameras, having skipped the preliminary luncheon. She did turn up for her first public appearance since the revelations in gossip magazine Closer, but did not get the opportunity to step up on stage as the award went instead to Adèle Haenel in Suzanne.
Below is a slide show of some of the images of the big night, whilst the table further down gives the results in full.
Best Film | Best Director |
---|---|
Me, Myself and Mum
|
Roman Polanski, Venus in Fur
|
Best Actor | Best Actress |
Guillaume Gallienne, Me, Myself and Mum
|
Sandrine Kiberlain, 9 Month Stretch
|
Best Supporting Actor | Best Supporting Actress |
Niels Arestrup, Quai d’Orsay
|
Adèle Haenel, Suzanne
|
Most Promising Actor | Most Promising Actress |
Pierre Deladonchamps, Stranger by the Lake
|
Adèle Exarchopoulos, Blue Is the Warmest Colour
|
Best First Film | Best Writing – Original |
Me, Myself and Mum, Guillaume Gallienne
|
Albert Dupontel, 9 Month Stretch
|
Best Cinematography | Best Writing – Adaptation |
Thomas Hardmeier, The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet
|
Guillaume Gallienne, Me, Myself and Mum
|
Best Editing | Best Sound |
Valérie Deseine, Me, Myself and Mum
|
Jean-Pierre Duret, Jean Mallet, Melissa Petitjean, Michael Kohlhaas
|
Best Music Written for a Film | Best Costume Design |
Martin Wheeler, Michael Kohlhaas
|
Pascaline Chavanne, Renoir
|
Best Production Design | Best Documentary |
Stéphane Rozenbaum, Mood Indigo
|
Sur le Chemin de l’École, Pascal Plisson
|
Best Animated Feature Film | Best Animated Short Film |
Loulou l’Incroyable Secret, Éric Omond
|
Mademoiselle Kiki et les Montparnos, Amélie Harrault
|
Best Foreign Film | Best Short Film |
The Broken Circle Breakdown, Felix Van Groeningen
|
Avant Que de Tout Perdre, Xavier Legrand
|