Will it bring an air of revolution to the 49th Cesar ceremony, which is being held Friday evening at the Olympia?
The storm warning applies to the winners as well as to the public in the room or even the demonstrators outside.
On the cinema side, the selection for this 2024 vintage celebrates the emergence of a new generation of directors and screenwriters.
But their coronation will perhaps not be as serene and as simple as the organizers expect.
The big family of French cinema will not be able to ignore the anger of actresses, led by Judith Godrèche who relaunched a #Metoo of French cinema by accusing directors Jacques Doillon and Benoit Jacquot of sexual abuse when she was a minor.
The presence - or not - of Judith Godrèche
Faced with calls circulating on social networks asking the Césars to offer a platform to Judith Godrèche, the organizers seem to have given in.
According to
Le Parisien
, the actress will go on stage to give a speech on sexual and gender-based violence in cinema.
Contacted by
Le Figaro
several times in recent days, Canal +, which broadcasts the ceremony unencrypted from 8:45 p.m., confirmed neither the presence of the actress nor her speaking.
This silence undoubtedly says a lot about the embarrassment of the channel and the César Academy.
On the networks, the actress also kicked in.
“We don't care if I go to the Césars or not.
If you only knew how much we don't care.
Above all, we want things to change.
Let the wolves in disguise come out of the woods.
That actresses can contact the CNC without thinking that a man accused of sexual abuse is at its head
,” she writes in an allusion to the complaint which targets its president Dominique Boutonnat.
The president of the public body overseeing the sector, supposed to work against this violence, was renewed in his position despite a case, not yet judged, of alleged sexual assault on his 21-year-old godson, which he contests.
For the Césars, to sweep under the carpet the rebelliousness of the actresses - who also regret the silence of their male partners - would be to take the risk of being seen as complicit and of sinning among themselves.
A capital sin accused of for a long time now by the Caesars.
One of the challenges of the evening is above all not to reproduce the catastrophic image of the 2020 edition. Tired of denouncing
“the general complacency of the industry towards sexual attackers”
since his filing of a complaint in November 2019 against the director Christophe Ruggia who made him suffer several sexual assaults between the ages of 12 and 14, Adèle Haenel left the room when the best director prize was awarded to Roman Polanski.
His shrill “Shame!”
is still in everyone's memory.
13 entertainers for one evening
The pressure will be even greater for those who are responsible for hosting the long evening of cinema around Valérie Lemercier, president of the ceremony.
Convinced by the formula tested last year, the organizers renewed the system of a rotating presentation supposed to bring more dynamism and eliminate boredom.
Ariane Ascaride, Bérénice Bejo, Dali Benssalah, Juliette Binoche, Dany Boon, Bastien Bouillon, Audrey Diwan, Ana Girardot, Diane Kruger, Benoît Magimel and Nadia Tereszkiewicz will pass the baton on stage.
Added to these veterans of the French seventh art are Paul Mirabel and Jean-Pascal Zadi, better known to younger people.
Also read: Lemercier, Magimel, Binoche, Boon... The Césars once again rely on a collegial presentation
The participation of Benoît Magimel and Juliette Binoche does not lack fair play.
The actors, ex-spouses, are starring in
The Passion of Dodin Bouffant,
a culinary fresco by Tran Anh Hùng shunned by the Césars and collateral victim of the imbroglio of French representation at the Oscars.
The CNC's committee of seven professionals is the source of much ridicule for having preferred to promote this costume film co-produced by Gaumont over
Anatomy of a Fall.
In the end,
Dodin Bouffant
was rejected and Justine Triet's film was nominated in five of the most prestigious categories for the Hollywood ceremony on March 10.
The new generation in pole position
Pour le palmarès des César, reste à savoir qui succédera à La Nuit du 12 de Dominik Moll, récit d’une enquête de longue haleine pour retrouver l’auteur d’un féminicide et sacré meilleur film l’an passé ? Le Règne animal et Anatomie d'une chute partent favoris. La dystopie fantastique de Thomas Cailley coiffe d'un cheveu la palme d'or de Justine Triet, douze nominations contre onze. Suivent Je verrai toujours vos visages (neuf nominations), Le Procès Goldman (huit nominations) et Chien de la casse (sept nominations). Ce quinté se disputera le trophée du meilleur film.
À lire aussiCésar 2024: retrouvailles, verdure et angoisse du discours... Le dîner des nommés comme si vous y étiez
Les 4694 membres professionnels de l’Académie ont jusqu’à 16 heures pour se prononcer et établir la liste des gagnants. Au premier tour du scrutin, qui a permis de désigner les candidats, la participation s’était élevée à 71,9%.
Le sacre d’une réalisatrice?
Les prétendants à la statuette de la meilleure mise en scène sont en majorité des femmes. Justine Triet (Anatomie d'une chute), Catherine Breillat (L'Été dernier), Jeanne Herry (Je verrai toujours vos visages) feront face à Thomas Cailley, lauréat des prix Louis-Delluc et Lumières pour Le Règne animal, et Cédric Kahn pour Le Procès Goldman. L'Académie se donne ainsi un maximum de chance de briser un plafond de verre : Tonie Marshall est la seule réalisatrice à avoir décroché ce prix dans l’histoire des César avec Vénus Beauté (Institut) en 2000.
Dans la catégorie meilleure actrice, Sandra Hüller part avec une longueur d'avance. La comédienne allemande qui incarne la romancière ambiguë d'Anatomie d'une chute affronte Marion Cotillard, pour le docufiction Little Girl Blue, Léa Drucker pour L'Été dernier, Virginie Efira pour L'Amour et les Forêts et Hafsia Herzi pour Le Ravissement. Chez les acteurs, Romain Duris en père qui veut sauver sa femme d'une métamorphose dans Le Règne animal est mis en ballottage par l'étonnant Raphaël Quenard de Yannick (également en lice côté révélation et court-métrage).
Duel d’as du barreau et entre frères
The supporting male role category will be dominated by the aces of the bar: Swann Arlaud and Antoine Reinartz will replay their duel prosecutor and lawyer from
Anatomy of a Fall
.
They will face their screenwriter, Arthur Harari, who plays Me Georges Kiejman in
The Goldman Trial
.
Among their sisters, the actresses of
I will always see your faces
occupy four of the five available slots.
Choosing between Adèle Exarchopoulos, Leïla Bekhti,
Élodie Bouchez and Miou-Miou foreshadows a difficult dilemma.
As for the revelations, the affair will be more family-oriented.
The brothers Paul and Simon Kircher, noticed in
The Animal Kingdom
and
Last Summer
, are in the running, like the precocious Milo Machado-Graner, a formidable kid plagued by doubt in
Anatomy of a Fall
.
Christopher Nolan and Agnès Jaoui honored
After inviting Brad Pitt last year, the Césars awarded an honorary award to Christopher Nolan, who, with
Oppenheimer
, brought the public back to the theater.
The Anglo-American director could leave Paris with a second statuette.
Its portrayal of the father of the atomic bomb is a serious contender for the title of best foreign film.
Agnès Jaoui, great lady of French cinema, will also be honored for her entire career.