Paris (AFP)
The Académie des César unveils the nominations for the main awards for French cinema on Wednesday, with "Les Misérables" among the favorites of this 45th edition, which could see the Polanski controversy revive if its "J'accuse" is in the running.
In total, 4,313 cinema professionals have until midnight Tuesday to choose their favorites for 2019 from a long list of films, including 220 eligible for the César for best film. The statues will be presented on February 28 in the Pleyel room in Paris.
The nominations will be announced at a press conference Wednesday morning in Paris.
A punch film about the suburbs, "Les Misérables" by Ladj Ly, in the running for the Oscar for best foreign film, should feature prominently in the nominations. Rewarded with the price of the jury in Cannes, this feature film, which tells the story of a blunder in a sensitive city of Seine-Saint-Denis, is expected in several categories, including that of the best film.
He could rub shoulders with "Grace to God" by François Ozon, Grand Jury Prize in Berlin, on pedophilia in the Catholic Church, which tells of the birth of the victims' association "La Parole Libérée", founded in Lyon in 2015 by former scouts abused by ex-priest Bernard Preynat.
"Portrait of the young girl on fire" by Céline Sciamma, a forbidden love story between two women with opposite destinies in the 18th century, could also be in the running, just like "Hors Norms" by Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache on associations helping young autistic people.
- "serious problem" -
But attention will also be turned to Roman Polanski's "J'accuse", a historic thriller on the Dreyfus affair with Jean Dujardin, awarded the Grand Jury Prize in Venice.
The film by the Franco-Polish filmmaker has had an eventful exit in France, while Polanski, still being prosecuted by the American justice system within the framework of a procedure for the misappropriation of a minor launched in 1977, is targeted by a new accusation of rape of the French Valentine Monnier.
If he is appointed to the César, this should not fail to relaunch the controversy over the filmmaker, which feminists no longer accept to see honored. In 2017, he had to give up presiding over the Cesars under their pressure.
Some voices, like that of actress Lou Roy Lecollinet, were already raised in December to denounce the film's pre-selection for the technical Cesars.
"It's a problem, serious," she said on Twitter while a petition, launched by the collective "J'accuse Polanski", asked the Academy to disqualify the director.
- "more transparency" -
This controversy was only one of those that have splashed in recent weeks the organizers of the Cesars, also under fire from critics for the opacity of their choices.
The Society of Film Directors (SRF) denounced in mid-January "a serious operating problem" in the organization of the Academy of Caesar, saying that it had refused in particular that the novelist Virginie Despentes be the godmother of one of the pre-selected for male prospects, Jean-Christophe Folly.
The Syndicate of Independent Producers (Spi) also called for "more transparency and modernity".
The president of the Académie des César Alain Terzian defended himself, citing in Le Parisien "a series of misunderstandings".
Last year, the Césars crowned the shock film on domestic violence "Up to the guard" by Xavier Legrand, and the actors Alex Lutz and Léa Drucker.
This year, Adèle Haenel or Noémie Merlant in "Portrait of the young girl on fire", Karin Viard in the disturbing "Sweet Song" or Ariane Ascaride in "Gloria Mundi" by Robert Guédiguian could notably claim to succeed Léa Drucker.
On the side of the actors, Vincent Cassel in "Outside the norms", Guillaume Canet in the peasant drama "In the name of the earth", Daniel Auteuil as disenchanted and nostalgic man in "La Belle Epoque", or Roschdy Zem as charismatic commissioner in "Roubaix , a light "are among the names mentioned.
This 45th edition of the César will be chaired by actress Sandrine Kiberlain, with humorist Florence Foresti as mistress of ceremony.
© 2020 AFP