- The 45th Cesar ceremony was held on Friday February 28 in Salle Pleyel, in Paris, ending in J'accuse with three victories, one of which was for the best achievement.
- The film crew of director Roman Polanski had deserted the ceremony, which promised to be explosive. And the explosion did take place: actress Adèle Haenel left the evening just after the third Polanski statuette, in particular with the director of Portrait of a young girl on fire.
- "What they did last night was to silence us," said actress Adèle Haenel in Mediapart .
Messages in capital letters or in capital letters, reactions posted on Instagram before being deleted, actors and actresses who continue to say they are "disgusted". The cinema world was still in tension this weekend, after a César ceremony on Friday evening which saw Roman Polanski's film, J'accuse , take three victories, including two (best director and best adaptation) which explicitly designate his director accused of sexual violence by 12 women.
A crowning achievement to the chagrin of many cinema figures. While the #MeToo wave has sparked significant voices from women around the world on sexual violence, many expected this ceremony to be a positive signal for the victims. Starting with Adèle Haenel, who has become an icon of the feminist struggle in the cultural world after testifying of sexual assaults on the part of director Christophe Ruggia.
"Severe self-criticism is necessary"
Friday evening, the actress left the Pleyel room where the ceremony was held as soon as the César for the best achievement attributed to Roman Polanski. Saturday, she returned to this electric evening in Médiapart , accusing the voters of having sent the victims to "silence": "What they did last night is to silence us, to impose us obligation to remain silent. They don't want to hear our stories. And any word which does not come from their ranks, which does not go in their direction, is considered as not having to exist. "I was overwhelmed, scared, disgusted," also said actress Aïssa Maiga, who denounced during the ceremony the lack of visibility of non-white people in French cinema.
"We are a family, don't we say everything?" : @AissaMaiga, president of the 50/50 and Noire collectives is not my job.
The best of # César2020> https://t.co/ipnVwouBeV pic.twitter.com/eXaezRYd4T
The day after the ceremony, many actors and actresses took up the cause for Adèle Haenel and Céline Sciamma, the director of Portrait of the young girl on fire , film left with only one trophy, that of the best photography. "Stunned. Severe self-criticism is required, ”commented actress Déborah François. Andréa Bescond, actress and co-director of the film Les chatouilles declared that she "recognized herself" "in the precipitate departures marked by immense anger from Adèle, Noémie and Céline", alluding to the director and actresses of Portrait de la jeune girl on fire . Florence Foresti, mistress of ceremonies this year, had posted the “disgusted” day before on Instagram and the writer Virginie Despentes a photo of Adèle Haenel.
"I want to greet those who are exposed"
In a press release, the 50/50 collective, committed to equality and diversity in the film industry, expressed its “indignation”: “Like many yesterday we felt combative shame, anger and sadness, but we bet that it vote is the last burst of a dying conservative Academy doomed to be reborn. "
Joined by 20 Minutes , Sandrine Brauer, co-founder of the collective, considered that it was "urgent to learn lessons" from what happened at the Césars. The producer (En Compagnie des Lamas) wonders: "Did Adèle Haenel's speech finally mobilize against her?" "But Sandrine Brauer also wants to see something positive in this evening, like the César for the best first film awarded to Mounia Meddour, that of the best film in Ladj Ly and" elegance "by Swann Arlaud:" I want to salute those who are exposed. "Best Supporting Actor for Grace God , Swann Arlaud made a widely acclaimed speech at the presentation of his statuette, stating in particular that" artists do not do justice, but they can say things that silence tries to to choke ".
He dreamed of a tie but it was Swann Arlaud who won the César for best actor in a supporting role for Grâce à Dieu
📱💻📺 # Cesar2020, only on CANAL +
➡️ https://t.co/r5kUhmRhd5 pic.twitter.com/i9otYDtxq9
Erased messages
Some, on the contrary, did not hesitate to defend Roman Polanski. Friday evening, actress Fanny Ardant, who took down a statuette for her role in La Belle Epoque , said: "I will follow someone to the guillotine, I do not like condemnation". Mathilde Seigner, sister of Emmanuelle Seigner, Polanski's partner, also supported him.
Other reactions indicated hesitation. Sarah Forestier, who regretted not having "left the room" and pointed out the "responsibility" of people in French cinema, has since deleted her Instagram post. Jean Dujardin, who plays in J'accuse , also erased between Friday evening and Saturday a message he had written in support of his film.
"A spit in the face of the victims"
The world of cinema was not the only one to react, after this highly symbolic evening. Some rare politicians have risked it. The Secretary of State for Women's Rights, Marlène Schiappa, published in Liberation a platform where she is sorry to hear so many people wish that "the cinema remains a celebration", she said, "well known to women who have experienced sexual violence ", who are often criticized for" spoiling Christmas "," the end of year pot "or" the school fair ". Clearer in her disapproval, MEP Manon Aubry considered that "Rewarding a notorious aggressor" was "a spit in the face of the victims".
Right, Nadine Morano caused a stir, violently attacking actress Aissa Maiga, after her plea for more diversity: “If you are not happy to see so many whites in France, but go back to Africa! »Words which provoked strong reactions on social networks.
On the activist side, the feminist collective #NousToutes estimated that the Académie des César had “spit in the face of victims of pedophile violence, in the face of victims of sexual violence, and, more broadly, in the face of millions of women in this country” While the hashtag #QuittonsLaSalle swirled on Twitter on Saturday, in support of Adèle Haenel and the entire team of her film:
When a pedophile is rewarded, when a notorious aggressor is in the gallery, when a man makes sexist remarks, when an assembly is 100% male, when women are forgotten, mocked, insulted #QuittonsLaSalle pic.twitter.com/XPkpxsEXt8
- Camille Froidevaux-Metterie (@CFroidevauxMett) February 29, 2020Work over the long term
After the reactions, actions are already underway. The 50/50 collective is organizing this week its General Assembly to fight against harassment in the audiovisual sector. Then will follow on March 12 the first working group of the CNC to reform the Académie des César, and finally in April the vote to renew the leadership of the association which organizes the ceremony, the board of directors of the Association for the promotion of French cinema having resigned collectively in mid-February.
For the moment, the 4,300 members of the Academy have no say, but Sandrine Brauer very much hopes that the current reform will allow them to widen the vote, for more democracy. And to comment: "We are trying to work over a long time, a political time, it is this transformation that interests us".
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