The film "J'accuse" by Roman Polanski, whose release was disrupted by a new rape accusation against the director, leads the nominations for the César 2020, vying for twelve prizes, announced Wednesday 29 January the Academy of Caesar.

Follow "Les Misérables" by Ladj Ly, a film about the fist on the suburbs, and "La Belle Epoque" by Nicolas Bedos, with eleven nominations each.

Caesars must not "have moral positions"

The Academy of Caesar "is not an authority which must have moral positions", affirmed the president of the Academy, Alain Terzian, questioned on Roman Polanski after the announcement of these appointments. "Unless I am mistaken, 1.5 million French people went to see his film. Question them," he added.

Historical thriller on the Dreyfus affair, "J'accuse" is notably named in the queens categories of best director and best film, alongside "Misérables" by Ladj Ly, "Grâce à Dieu" by François Ozon or "Portrait of the young girl on fire" by Céline Sciamma.

Adèle Haenel in the running for the César for best actress

The actors Jean Dujardin in "J'accuse", Daniel Auteuil in "La Belle Epoque", Damien Bonnard in "Les Misérables", Vincent Cassel and Reda Kateb in "Hors Norms", Melvil Poupaud in "Grâce à Dieu" and Roschdy Zem in "Roubaix, une lumière" are nominated for the male interpretation award.

For the César award for best actress, Adèle Haenel is nominated alongside Noémie Merlant in "Portrait of the young girl on fire". With this appointment, the subject of harassment against women, and more particularly against actresses, could definitely be invited to the ceremony, the actress having made the headlines after having revealed that she was the victim of sexual harassment on the part of the director Christophe Ruggia. The latter was indicted on January 16, after the actress' complaint.

In the category of best actress there are also Anaïs Demoustier in "Alice and the mayor", Eva Green in "Proxima", Chiara Mastroianni in "Room 212", Doria Tillier in "La belle epoque" and Karin Viard in "Sweet song" .

The 45th Cesar ceremony will be held on February 28.

With AFP

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