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Perhaps one name in particular will be remembered from this ceremony.
It's not that of a French film artist, but that of a Spanish fashion label.
"My children can shop at Zara," said the winner of the script award in his acceptance speech, "but they are not allowed to go to the cinema."
With this, Stéphane Demoustier captured the mood that prevailed on Friday evening in the hall of the Paris Olympia.
The large French film family got together to celebrate the worst year in their history.
They did not gather in as numerous as usual, but they were flesh and blood.
As the first physical presentation of a film prize this season, the César organizers not only set an international mark, but also expressly a national one.
Awarded by far, but in real terms: the Césars
Source: AFP
The fact that the ceremony was not digitally simulated was in itself an act of resistance to the Corona strategy of the Macron government.
The evening's presenter, actress Marina Fois, set the tone when she unequivocally gave up on the culture minister, Roselyne Bachelot.
The minister had to face her words, but in secret: she was not, as usual, in the ranks of the nominees and award-winners, but in the scenes.
The film academy kept a social distance.
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Last year they broke up in a dispute, complained the actor Roschdy Zem in his role as president of the awards ceremony, and this year they couldn't even hug anymore.
The longing to finally be able to enter a cinema again ran through this depressing evening as an angry leitmotif.
Idle corona jokes and an incredible number of scatological gangs only worsened the mood.
The downside of the face-to-face event was the tremendous weight that what was missing won what was absent.
Not only was the great deceased - Michel Piccoli, Ennio Morricone, Jean-Pierre Bacri, Claude Brasseur, Jean-Loup Dabadie and Jean-Claude Carrière - commemorated last year in unusual detail.
Albert Dupontel, director of the evening's winner with seven awards, “Adieu les cons”, notoriously stayed away from the award ceremony.
Laure Calamy was awarded the César for Best Actress
Source: AFP
The far more interesting phantom that haunted the Olympia hall was, of course, Dominique Boutonnat, the head of the CNC film subsidy, who is not loved in the industry.
His appointment had already sparked violent protests.
At the time, it was suspected that his only qualification was to have been a generous campaign donor from Macron.
When the Film Academy announced the list of nominations on February 10, it was overshadowed by reports that Boutonnat had been taken into police custody.
His goddaughter accuses him of sexual assault.
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Since then, ten film associations have asked the Minister of Culture to dismiss Boutonnat.
However, Bachelot relies on the presumption of innocence.
Eight days ago, Boutonnat accepted a prize from the trade journal “Le Film francais”, but was not invited to the César Awards.
The actress Corinne Masiero, who first appeared in the costume of the incest fairy tale "Donkey Skin" and then completely exposed herself, was the only one who referred to him angrily.
A saying on her back also referred to the bleeding of the arts: “Give us the art back, Jean!” It said.
With Jean the French Prime Minister Jean Castex was meant.
At the end of the television broadcast, the channel Canal + used a clip to remind of all the films that could not start but could have played a role in the awarding of the award.
The members of the film academy could choose between only 125 titles;
in the previous year it was 200.
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But 2020 was not just a terrible year for French cinema, because the closure of the movie theaters led to a loss of around 70 percent in sales.
It was the time of a deep crisis of confidence.
The division that raged through the industry after the protests against last year's director's award for Roman Polanski has by no means been overcome.
Why also?
A hasty reconciliation would serve no one.
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Especially since the Causa Boutonnat is just one of several scandals that shake and polarize the public.
The actor Richard Berry's eldest daughter accuses him of incest;
the previous allegations of sexual assault and rape against the producer Luc Besson and against Gérard Depardieu by two actresses were taken up again by the judiciary;
in December, the public prosecutor opened a new investigation against the actor.
One of the few positive reports of this annus miserabilis concerned the Film Academy itself. It has restructured itself and thus convincingly broke with the gesture of patriarchal opacity that determined the aegis of President Alain Terzian. A suffocating knot has been untied. All leading positions have been equally occupied since September, starting with the presidency, shared by the former arte boss Veronique Cayla and the director Eric Toledano. Since then, decisions have become more transparent and the college of electoral members more diverse. A new game, Roschdy Zem promised at the beginning of the ceremony, now with equal partners.