Claude Lelouch is a member of the Cesar administration committee. He is part of the management of the Academy, which announced his resignation Thursday evening with its president Alain Terzian, two weeks before the awards ceremony for French cinema, scheduled for February 28.
Did you expect Alain Terzian's resignation?
CLAUDE LELOUCH. This crisis, I felt it coming. It was necessary, because there are more dissatisfied than happy. It is very good that we are starting on a new basis. Personally, even if I am a little sad about what is happening, because I would not want all of this to appear to dirty French cinema, one of the most beautiful in the world, I have never been a fan of this board. I know very well that there are many things to review.
What is it to be a member? What work do we do there?
Some of us are former Oscar winners. (Claude Lelouch was awarded in Hollywood in 1967 for "A Man and a Woman"). The Cesars are a copy of the Oscars. The problem is that the Americans and the French are very different. What we try to do in our meetings is that the people who vote can see all the films. And it's an impossible job. I know very well that this is not the case. There are 200 films to watch and people vote for the films they have seen accidentally ...
The figure of Alain Terzian was increasingly attacked ...
All I can say is that if there's one thing I really don't want, it's being president of the Caesars. Never ! Never ! Never ! This is the most difficult position, because we are in constant conflict of interest. Alain's position will have been terribly uncomfortable and necessarily open to criticism from all sides.
Do you know if the ceremony will take place on February 28 at the Salle Pleyel in Paris?
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I think it will happen, yes. It will be exciting! There are going to be some interesting twists…
How do you see the sequence of events?
You have to sit around a table and see what needs to change. But first, the National Cinema Center (CNC) and its president, Dominique Boutonnat, must take the situation in hand. He is a man who knows cinema well and I want to trust him so that he finds the solution. Either save the Caesars or arrest them. The only possible mediator today in this case is the president of the CNC.