For the second time in his career,Michael Douglaswas honored at the César Awards – and took the opportunity to audition for French films. The 41st edition of the French Oscars also awardedMark Osborne’sadaptation ofThe Little Prince,Alejandro González Iñárritu’sBirdmanandWarren Ellisfor his score inMustang, one of the big winners of the night. But the top prize went toPhilippe Fauchon’sFatima.
The ceremony kicked off withZita Hanrotwinning the breakthrough actress trophy for her role as Fatima. The movie also won the awards for best adaptation, best editing and best picture.
Marguerite, directed byXavier Giannoli, also took home four trophies, namely for best set decoration, best sound, best costume design (Pierre-Jean Larroque: “It’s nice to win an award “especially when you never win anything”) and best actress forCatherine Frot.
Another four trophies went to Oscar-nominatedMustang, including best first film for directorDeniz Gamze Ergüven, best screenplay forAlice Winocour, best editing and best original score. Australian composerWarren Ellis, who is one of the Bad Seeds inNick Cave’sband, thanked his illustrious bandmate: “He believed in me as much as my wife.”
Another winner to thank his wife was Mark Osborne, who won the best animated feature category forThe Little Prince, a French production. “Merci tout le monde (thank you everyone),” he started off in French before continuing in English. “This is a spectacular honor. I want to thank first and foremost Antoine de St. Exupéry who created this work of art. I want to thank the St. Exupéry family.” But he mainly credited his wife Kim: “She gave me the book over 25 years ago and I wouldn’t have done the movie if it weren’t for her.”
Presenters included James Bond girlCarole Bouquet(For Your Eyes Only),Hippolyte Girardot(“Wouldn’t it be great if we lived in cartoons?” he said when presenting the award for best animated film),Audrey Lamywho sang a tune before presenting the award for Best Sound,Matthias Schoenaerts,Juliette BinocheandKristin Scott-Thomas, who presented the trophy for best foreign film, won by Inarritu’sBirdman. It beat movies likePaulo Sorrentino’sYouthandNanny Moretti’sMia Madre.
As forEmmanuelle Bercot, her Cannes Film Festival openerLa Tête Haute(Standing Tall) earned its two male leads the best actor and best breakthrough awards forBenoît MagimelandRob Paradotrespectively. The 18-year-old, who played the lead role in Cannes openerLa Tête Haute, was very emotional as he accepted his award. Paradot was styling carpentry when he was cast in the film that earned its director Emmanuelle Bercot the best actress Palme in Cannes for her role inMaïwenn’sMon Roi.
Maïwenn was one of the three female filmmakers nominated for best director. But the winner was a man:Arnaud DesplechinforTrois souvenirs de ma jeunesse(My Golden Years). Despite being nominated three times, this was his first win.
Another first-time winner wasVincent Lindon, who won his very first best actor award at the Cannes Film Festival in 2015 forStephane Brizé’sLa Loi du marché. The role also earned him his first best actor César. “Now I know what it’s like to see you from here,” he said.
Best documentary went toCyril Dionand actressMélanie Laurent(Inglourious Basterds) for their environmental documentaryDemain(Tomorrow).
But if there were an award for best host,Florence Forestiwould not win it.
The comedienne mistook her role tonight for one of her standup shows. Her presentation style was exhausting and her jokes rather lacking in the humor department (or maybe I just don’t get French jokes), and she took the opportunity to take digs at the movie industry. As for her running joke, “Where is Vincent Cassel?”, it soon got tiresome. The actor, nominated in he best actor category for his role inLa Tête Haute, was not in attendance.
Foresti’s sketch “Bloquées” (Blocked), alongsideVanessa Paradis, about two women talking about real life as opposed to life onscreen, was a bit more fun, especially if one is familiar with Paradis’s first hit song at age 14, “Joe le taxi.” But that was about it…
And while one of the César presentersJonathan Cohenwas rambling on with his unfunny jokes (just present the award, dude), Michael Douglas’s translator was probably apologizing in the name of France. Or perhaps he didn’t need a translator as the actor spoke in perfect French during his acceptance speech for his honorary award.
After an introduction by Oscar-winning director and president of this 41steditionClaude Lelouchas well as a montage of his films, Michael Douglas showed off his French language skills, thanking his parents “for allowing me to get a taste of French cinema… When I saw the magnificent montage [of my movies], I wondered ‘Who is that young guy?’” He also shared his vision of good filmmaking. “For me, cinema is like French cuisine. To make a good dish, you need good ingredients. I’ve always been lucky enough to have been surrounded by good ingredients in films.” And since he hadn’t been “lucky enough” to taste this particular brand of French gastronomy, referring to cinema, he proceeded to offer his services as an actor in a French film, calling it an “audition.”
The Césars also paid a discreet homage toDavid Bowieby peppering some sequences with his tracks, including the In Memoriam sequence, without ever paying tribute to the late musician and actor.
The French Academy combed through 642 movies, 24 short films and 3,286 actors and other film professionals for the nominations in the 22 categories. The full list of winners:
