Césars: Polanski named best director, Adèle Haenel leaves the room

This 45th Caesar ceremony was undoubtedly the most hectic in recent years. Besides the coronation of Les Misérables, by Ladj Ly, it was Roman Polanski, despite his absence, who made the talk. The subject of strong criticism after a new accusation of rape, the Franco-Polish director received the César for best achievement on Friday for "J'accuse", a historic thriller on the Dreyfus Affair.

Actress Adèle Haenel, symbol of a new impetus of #MeToo in France since she accused director Christophe Ruggia in November of "repeated touching" when she was a teenager, left the room after the announcement of this prize awarded to the Franco-Polish filmmaker, himself accused of raping minors.

Previously, the discomfort around Roman Polanski was already present. Florence Foresti, the mistress of ceremony, nicknamed the latter "Popol" and evoking pedophilia in the 1970s "to speak of the director. As for actor Jean-Pierre Darroussin, he simply deliberately spurned his name when announcing his César for the best adaptation for "J'accuse".

With the exit from Adèle Haenel's room, the ceremony ended in black pudding, the traditional family photo having not taken place.

Before the ceremony began, several hundred demonstrators had protested Roman Polanski near the Salle Pleyel, where the Césars were held.

The place given to Roman Polanski is considered unacceptable by feminists and a part of public opinion, whereas he has been targeted since November by a new accusation of rape by the French Valentine Monnier, who says that she was beaten and raped by him in 1975, when she was 18 years old.

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The 86-year-old director is also still being sued in the U.S. for illegal sex with a minor in 1977.

Friday morning, the Minister of Culture Franck Riester declared that a César for best director for Polanski would be "a bad symbol compared to the necessary awareness that we must all have in the fight against sexual and gender-based violence".