Cinema: "La Nuit du 12" triumphs at the 48th Cesar ceremony

Director Dominik Moll (left) with screenwriter Gilles Marchand (right) after receiving the prize for best adaptation at the 48th Césars ceremony.

© BERTRAND GUAY / AFP

Text by: RFI Follow

4 mins

La

, one of the favorite films of this César evening, won six trophies, including those for best film and best director.

For her part, the French director of Senegalese origin Alice Diop was awarded the prize for the best first film.

Advertisement

Read more

Twenty-two years after

, Dominik Moll did it again this Friday with a new César for best director for

.

"

 he encouraged.

His feature film, awarded the prize for best film, also saw its two main actors, Bastien Bouillon and Bouli Lanners, respectively win the César for best male hope and that of best male supporting role for their role as police investigators.

Presented at the Cannes Film Festival in the “

 ” section,

 retraces an investigation by the judicial police, after the assassination of a young girl, without witnesses and in the middle of the night.

He delivers a gallery of suspects steeped in toxic masculinity and also attacks machismo in the police.

Released in theaters in July, it

was one of the French successes of the year, with 509,000 spectators in total.

Inspired by a news item recounted by Pauline Guéna in her investigation of the PJ of Versailles

, he had already received the Jacques Deray Prize for detective film, awarded by the Institut Lumière in Lyon.

First César for Virginie Efira

The Franco-Belgian Virginie Efira won the César for best actress, for her role in

, notably opposite Juliette Binoche and Fanny Ardant.

A trophy, for which she had already been nominated four times, and which comes after two intense years, where she captured all the light.

In this film, she plays the role of a survivor of an attack.

"

" ​​said the Franco-Belgian actress, dedicating the award to the film's director Alice Winocour and all "

 who accompanied her.

The César for best actor was won by Benoît Magimel, who has definitively regained his place at the top of French cinema by obtaining a second César in a row, a first.

At 48, he received this prize for

, a year after having already lifted the statuette for

, after a dense and sometimes chaotic journey – almost 70 films to his credit.

In

, by Spanish director Albert Serra, he delivers a performance as a freewheeling actor, embodying a high commissioner of the Republic in Tahiti, who navigates with haughtiness and elegance from high society to underworld circles, from separatists to the military.

Tribute to female directors by Alice Diop

The filmmaker Alice Diop, 44, won the César for best first film, for

 which relates the trial of an infanticidal mother and inspired by a recent court case.

Alice Diop is a recognized documentary filmmaker, but before

she had not yet produced fiction, which allowed her to compete in this category.

This cerebral and radical trial film aims to explore “

 ” of our “

 ” according to its director.

 has received praise from critics since its presentation at the Venice Film Festival, where it won both the Grand Jury Prize and the First Film Award.

He then notably won the Prix Louis-Delluc, tied with " 

" by Albert Serra.

“

 ,” said Alice Diop, also praising the work of Claire Denis, Rebecca Zlotowski and Alice Winocour.

"

 ,” she added.

The day before, Alice Diop had received a Cléopâtre prize, created in reaction by the magazine

to a 2023 selection of very masculine Césars.

This 100% female award was organized to "

 " at the Césars.

The idea was launched by EELV deputy Marie-Charlotte Garin when she noticed that no woman was named in the Best Achievement category of the Césars.

This simple joke resulted in the creation of a Cleopatras ceremony with two awards: the audience award after online voting by around 1,000 readers and the magazine editor's award.

Alice Diop received the audience award for her film 

and Rebecca Zlotowski received the editorial award for 

Complete list of the 48th Cesars ceremony:

♦ Best Film

The Night of the 12th

by Dominik Moll

♦ Best Achievement

Dominik Moll for

♦ Best Actress 

Virginie Efira for

♦ Best Actor

Benoît Magimel for

♦ Top Female Hope

Nadia Tereszkiewicz for

♦ Top Male Prospect

Bastien Bouillon for

♦ Best Short Fiction Film

Leave one day

 by Amélie Bonnin

♦ Best costumes

Gigi Lepage for

♦ Best backdrops

Christian Marti for

♦ Best First Film

Saint Omer

 by Alice Diop

♦ Best Animated Short Film

The sex life of Mamie

by Urska Djukic and Emilie Pigeard

♦ Best Animated Film

My Afghan Family

 by Michaela Pavlatova

♦ Better Sound

François Maurel, Olivier Mortier, Luc Thomas for

♦ Best Supporting Actress

Noémie Merlant for

♦ Best Supporting Actor

Bouli Lanners for

♦ Best Original Music

Irène Dresel for

♦ Best adaptation

Gilles Marchand and Dominik Moll for

♦ Best Documentary Short Film

Maria Schneider, 1983

by Elisabeth Subrin

♦ Best Documentary Film

Return to Reims [Fragments]

 by Jean-Gabriel Périot

♦ Best visual effects

Laurens Ehrmann for

♦ Best Foreign Film

As Bestas

by Rodrigo Sorogoyen

♦ Best Editing

Mathilde Van De Moortel for

♦ Best Cinematography

Arthur Tort for

♦ Best Original Screenplay

Louis Garrel, Tangy Viel and Naila Guigujet for

Newsletter

Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox

I subscribe

Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application

• Movie theater

• France

• Culture