2016 César Awards

[Chris Knipp]

Rendez-Vous films do well at the 41st Césars.


ROD PARADOT RECEIVED 'MEILLEUR ESPOIR MASCULIN'

They were awarded at the Chatelet in Paris yesterday (Fri. 26 Feb. 2016) and are relevant to this site: most of the films and all the most awarded ones -- the top films -- have been reviewed on Filmleaf. And Fatima, just reviewed here as part of the NYC Rendez-Vous with French Cinema at Lincoln Center, was the surprise winner of the Best Film award. Other contenders for Best Film were Dheepan, My King, and Standing Tall -- all in this year's Rendez-Vous. My King and Standing Tall were in the running for Best Director, though Desplechin won for My Golden Days -- but we covered that in the NYFF! Vincent Lindon won Best Actor for The Measure of a Man, also a NYFF film.

In the Most Promising (Meilleur Espoir) Male and Female categories, Rendez-Vous selections again shone. They went to Rod Paradot for Standing tall/Le Tête haute and Zita Hanrot who played Nesrine, the daughter, in Fatima.

The Best Actress award went to Catherine Frot for Maguerite, which has not come here yet (it's coming 11 Mar., Bay Area 1 Apr.). I reviewed it in my Paris Movie Journal after seeing it at the now closed historic Cinema La Pagode.

It's amazing that Rod Paradot, this 18-year-old kid who was plucked out of a technical high school where he was trainng to be a carpenter, won a César for his first appearance in a film. France is watching Rod's emotional acceptance speech. As so often happens it was posted by somebody , then blocked for "copyright reasons" on YouTube but you can maybe watch it HERE or HERE.


Soria Zeroual in Fatima

Best Film
(presented by Juliette Binoche)
Fatima - R-V
Dheepan - R-V
The Measure of a Man - NYFF
Marguerite
Mon roi - R-V
Mustang
Standing Tall - R-V
My Golden Days - NYFF

Best Director
(presented by Gilles Lellouche)
Arnaud Desplechin – My Golden Days - NYFF
Jacques Audiard – Dheepan - R-V
Stéphane Brizé – The Measure of a Man - NYFF
Xavier Giannoli – Marguerite
Maïwenn – Mon roi - R-V
Deniz Gamze Ergüven – Mustang
Emmanuelle Bercot – Standing Tal - R-Vl

Best Actor
(presented by Emmanuelle Béart)
Vincent Lindon – The Measure of a Man
Jean-Pierre Bacri – The Very Private Life of Mister Sim
Vincent Cassel – Mon roi - R-V
François Damiens – Cowboys - NYFF
Gérard Depardieu – Valley of Love - R-V
Antonythasan Jesuthasan – Dheepan - R-V
Fabrice Luchini – Courted

Best Actress
(presented by Matthias Schoenaerts)
Catherine Frot – Marguerite
Loubna Abidar – Much Loved - R-V
Emmanuelle Bercot – Mon roi - R-V
Cécile de France – Summertime - R-V
Catherine Deneuve – Standing Tall - R-V
Isabelle Huppert – Valley of Love - R-V
Soria Zeroual – Fatima - R-V

Best Supporting Actor
(presented by Elsa Zylberstein)
Benoît Magimel – Standing Tall - R-V
Michel Fau – Marguerite
Louis Garrel – Mon roi - R-V
André Marcon – Marguerite
Vincent Rottiers – Dheepan - R-V

Best Supporting Actress
(presented by Marie Gillain and Raphaël Personnaz)
Sidse Babett Knudsen – Courted
Sara Forestier – Standing Tall - R-V
Agnès Jaoui – The Sweet Escape
Noémie Lvovsky – Summertime - R-V
Karin Viard – 21 Nights with Pattie - R-V

Most Promising Actor
(presented by Louane Emera)
Rod Paradot – Standing Tall- R-V
Swann Arlaud – Les Anarchistes
Quentin Dolmaire – My Golden Days - NYFF
Félix Moati – All About Them
Finnegan Oldfield – Cowboys - NYFF

Most Promising Actress
(presented by Carole Bouquet)
Zita Hanrot – Fatima - R-V
Lou Roy-Lecollinet – My Golden Days - NYFF
Diane Rouxel – Standing Tall - R-V
Sara Giraudeau – Les Bêtises
Camille Cottin – Connasse, Princesse des cœurs

Best Original Screenplay
(presented by Patrick Bruel)
Mustang – Deniz Gamze Ergüven and Alice Winocour
Dheepan – Jacques Audiard, Thomas Bidegain and Noé Debré
Marguerite – Xavier Giannoli
Standing Tall – Emmanuelle Bercot and Marcia Romano
My Golden Days – Arnaud Desplechin and Julie Peyr

Best Adaptation
(presented by Zabou Breitman and Pierre Deladonchamps)
Fatima – Philippe Faucon - R-V
L'Affaire SK1 – David Oelhoffen and Frédéric Tellier
Macadam Stories – Samuel Benchetrit
The Clearstream Affair – Stéphane Cabel and Vincent Garenq
Diary of a Chambermaid – Benoît Jacquot and Hélène Zimmer

Best First Feature Film
(presented by Jean-Hugues Anglade)
Mustang - Deniz Gamze Ergüven
L'Affaire SK1 - Frédéric Tellier
Cowboys - Thomas Bidegain - NYFF
The Wakhan Front - Clément Cogitore - ND/NF 2016
All Three of Us - Kheiron

Best Cinematography
(presented by Déborah François)
Christophe Offenstein – Valley of Love - R-V
Eponine Momenceau – Dheepan - R-V
Glynn Speeckaert – Marguerite
David Chizallet and Ersin Gök – Mustang
Irina Lubtchansky – My Golden DayS - NYFF

Best Editing
(presented by Jérôme Commandeur)
Mathilde Van de Moortel – Mustang
Juliette Welfling – Dheepan
Cyril Nakache – Marguerite
Simon Jacquet – Mon roi
Laurence Briaud – My Golden Days

Best Sound
(presented by Audrey Lamy)
François Musy and Gabriel Hafner – Marguerite
Daniel Sobrino, Valérie Deloof and Cyril Holtz – Dheepan - R-V
Nicolas Provost, Agnès Ravez and Emmanuel Croset – Mon roi - R-V
Ibrahim Gök, Damien Guillaume and Olivier Goinard – Mustang
Nicolas Cantin, Sylvain Malbrant and Stéphane Thiébaut – My Golden Days - NYFF

[SKIPPING SOME CATEGORES. FOR THE COMPLETE LIST GO HERE.]

Best Foreign Film
(presented by Kristin Scott Thomas)
Birdman - NYFF 2014
Son of Saul - NYFF
I'm Dead but I Have Friends
Mia Madre - NYFF
Taxi
The Brand New Testament
Youth

Honorary César
(presented by Claude Lelouch)
Michael Douglas

[Chris Knipp]

César Awards: The Complete Winners List

Hollywood Reporter has a roundup of the 2016 Césars HERE.

It has a really nice illustration for every single award.

Below is one, of Zita Hanrot, who costarred in Fatima, and won Most Promising Actress (Meilleur Espoir Féminin).

[Chris Knipp]

Michael Douglas' César lifetime achievement acceptance speech -- in French!


THIS WAS HIS 2ND CÉSAR; HE REC'D ONE IN 1998

He honors French cinema, great French filmmakers and actors of the Sixties; tells a jokey anecdote about his father at 97 confusing him with himself in a film seen on TV; and concludes that if anyone wants to use him in a French film, consider this as an audition.

Note that Soderbergh's 2013 made-for-TV film Behind the Candelabra (as Ma vie avec Liberace, "My Life with Liberace"), where he plays Liberace, was shown theatrically in France (I saw it there), and did very well with the critics (AlloCiné press rating 3.8).

His acceptance speech, with Claude Lelouch:

YouTube

Better sound: RTE