The clash of two worlds has taken place. Preceded by numerous controversies for several weeks, notably due to the twelve nominations of J'accuse by a Roman Polanski accused of rapes, the 45th Cesar ceremony was held Friday evening in a tense climate, before the César for the best achievement attributed to the French-Polish filmmaker does not completely rock the evening. Because if the deserved coronation of Ladj Ly's feature film, Les Misérables , awarded with the César for best film, will remain as one of the highlights of this edition, the strong image of this ceremony is the departure of Adèle Haenel, furious, at the announcement of the prize awarded to Polanski, who leaves with three Cesars.
ESSENTIAL - Relive the 45th edition of the César ceremony
Even before the ceremony began, the evening had started in an explosive climate, with a gathering of several hundred demonstrators in front of the Salle Pleyel, causing some incidents between demonstrators and the police. Roman Polanski, for his part, had given up going to the high mass of French cinema, as had the entire J'accuse team. But even absent, the filmmaker's shadow, targeted since November by a new rape accusation on the part of the French Valentine Monnier, hovered in the Salle Pleyel.
Florence Foresti scratches Roman Polanski
While nothing had filtered on the way in which the mistress of ceremony Florence Foresti was going to evoke this heavy context, the humorist did not hesitate to scratch Roman Polanski, whom she also never named, from her speech introduction. "Good evening, welcome to the prisoner ceremony! ... Uh Caesar. It seems that there are large predators ... Uh producers in the room. That's good, I am well equipped," said she went nuts.
"We have to settle a case or we will have a problem during the ceremony. There are twelve moments when we will have a problem. We must solve the problem otherwise it will spoil the evening. -What do we do with Roro? What do we do with Popol? ", she insisted.
Florence Foresti: "There are 12 moments when we are going to have a problem this evening"
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Very quickly, J'accuse won its first trophy, with a César for the best costumes, before being also rewarded by the César for the best adaptation, each time with shy applause, and without any member of the team. film to come and recover the statuette. When handing over the César for best adaptation, the actor Jean-Pierre Darroussin illustrated well the ambient discomfort, by barking the name of the winner.
Note that the controversies were not limited this year to the case of Roman Polanski, and Aïssa Maïga was responsible for recalling it. The actress, who came to present the César award for best female hope, delivered a speech committed to more diversity in French cinema, as she had already done in a tribune published Wednesday in Le Parisien , in the company of thirty actors and actresses. "Think inclusion," she told members of the Academy. "As soon as I find myself in a big trade meeting, I can't help counting the number of blacks and non-whites in the room," she regretted.
"Shame" exclaims Adèle Haenel
After awards attributed in particular to La Belle Epoque, for its script, or an audience award for Les Misérables , the big winner of the evening with four statuettes, came the time for the most awaited categories. Also absent, Jean Dujardin, named for his role in J'accuse , was beaten by Roschdy Zem, awarded for Roubaix, a light , by Arnaud Despleschin. As for the actresses, while many saw Adèle Haenel triumph for her interpretation in Portrait of a young girl on fire , it was ultimately Anaïs Demoustier who was distinguished for Alice and the mayor, by Nicolas Pariser. For Céline Sciamma's film, the evening was disappointing with only a César for the best photo.
And then Céline Sciamma did not become the second woman to win a César for best achievement. The voters of the Academy preferred to reward Roman Polanski. This announcement, feared by many, caused a flutter in the room, and the departure of several personalities, including Adèle Haenel. Going away, the actress became the symbol of a new impetus of #MeToo in France after accusing the director Christophe Ruggia of "repeated touching" when she was a teenager, shouted "shame". This week, in the columns of the New York Times , the one who had been crowned in 2015 for her role in The Fighters had estimated that "To distinguish Polanski is to spit in the face of all the victims".
At the announcement of the César for Best Director for Roman Polanski ("J'accuse"), Adèle Haenel leaves the room.
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After a few minutes of hesitation, it was a visibly relieved Sandrine Kiberlain who announced the victory of Ladj Ly's film, Les Misérables , for the César for best film. The feature film, which tells the story of a police blunder in a sensitive city of Seine-Saint-Denis, also gleaned the awards for best male hope, editing, and César from the public. "The only enemy is not the other, it is misery," said the filmmaker on the stage in the Salle Pleyel. But it is the price awarded to Roman Polanski that should be talked about in the coming days. At the end of the evening, the mistress of ceremony Florence Foresti, who did not come back on stage after the controversial Caesar, posted a brief comment on her Instagram account: "Sick".