Who to succeed
Adieu les Cons
, the big winner of the Césars last year?
French cinema awards its most popular statuettes on Friday evening, with a favorite, the film
Illusions Perdue
s, adapted from Balzac.
Read alsoWeakened by two calamitous editions, the Caesars are playing their all-out and their honor tonight
After a year 2021 again marked by the health crisis, and two editions tarnished by scandals and flops, the Académie des César has no room for error.
She entrusted the keys to an old veteran of the exercise of master of ceremonies, Antoine de Caunes, who will go on stage at 9 p.m. at the Olympia, for a 47th Cesar evening once again broadcast unencrypted on Canal +.
Cate Blanchett, Xavier Giannoli, Adam Driver...
On the program, glitter, with the Honorary Cesar awarded to Australian actress Cate Blanchett by Isabelle Huppert (presentation of her Covid) the memory of the disappeared, Jean-Paul Belmondo and Gaspard Ulliel in the lead, and of course the prize list, for which the film
Lost Illusions
, an acid fresco on the press and its excesses, is a favorite.
With 15 nominations including best film and best director, Xavier Giannoli's film is in the lead to succeed
Albert Dupontel's Adieu les Cons
, which triumphed last year with seven statuettes.
Read also
Lost Illusions, Annette
and
Aline
are full of nominations for the César 2022, disappointment for
Titanium
Behind the adaptation of the great Balzacian novel, the members of the Academy placed the rock opera
Annette
by Leos Carax (11 nominations), presented at the Cannes Film Festival.
The American star Adam Driver will make the trip, announced Canal +: the actor is in the running for the César for best actor for this film, alongside in his category Benoît Magimel, Vincent Macaigne or Pierre Niney.
To complete this top three,
Aline
, Valérie Lemercier's biopic dedicated to Céline Dion, in which this big fan of the Quebec star gives the best of herself, won ten nominations, including logically the best actress, alongside of Léa Seydoux or Laure Calamy, again named after winning the title last year.
In the queen category of
best film
, in addition to the three films placed at the top, the members of the Academy also put on the ranks
BAC Nord
by Cédric Jimenez, on the excesses of the police in the northern districts of Marseille,
The event
of Audrey Diwan, adaptation of a novel by Annie Ernaux on abortion which won the Golden Lion in Venice,
the Fracture
by Catherine Corsini on France's
yellow vests
as well as Onoda, 10,000 nights in
Arthur
's jungle
Harari.
A ceremony of consolation
Renewed to respond to accusations of opacity, inter-self and machismo, will the Académie des César seize the opportunity to show that it has changed?
Only one filmmaker has received the César for best director so far: Tonie Marshall in 2000 for
Vénus Beauté (institute)
.
Three are nominated this year (Valérie Lemercier, Audrey Diwan and Julia Ducournau, who won the Palme d'Or at Cannes for
Titane
) for four men.
For all these films, Cesars could serve as a consolation prize after a year in which French cinema was able to shine at festivals but suffered in theaters due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Antoine de Caunes and director Danièle Thompson, president of the ceremony, will also work to restore the image of this gala evening, inspired by the American Oscars, but whose star has largely faded.
In 2020, at the height of an internal crisis, Roman Polanski, accused of rape, was crowned best director for
J'accuse
, causing the departure of actress Adèle Haenel from the ceremony.
The image has become one of the symbols of the fight against sexual violence and for equality in the cinema world.
And despite a profound renewal, last year's ceremony, marked by an intermittent pro happening of the show of actress Corinne Masiero naked on stage, flopped the audience (1.6 million spectators).
And aroused a torrent of criticism deploring the navel-gazing of the world of cinema in the midst of a pandemic.