Paris (AFP)

Uneasiness at the dinner of revelations, return of the Polanski controversy and tribune in vitriol: the sling aimed at the direction of the Caesars has developed in three stages since the beginning of the year.

- Act 1: discomfort at dinner -

January 13: The Césars organize their traditional dinner of revelations vying for the nominations of female and male hopefuls.

Tradition has it that they are "sponsored" by leading actors or directors. The Society of Film Directors (SRF) is indignant that the Academy has refused two godmothers, the novelist Virginie Despentes and the director Claire Denis, estimated by the organizers not sufficiently legitimate and media.

The union denounces "shameful opaque and discriminatory behavior".

During the evening, several directors and actors, including Michel Hazanavicius, Cédric Klapisch and Marina Foïs, relay the protests of the SRF, refusing "that there are desirable and undesirable artists". The Academy of Caesar immediately apologizes.

- Act 2: and Polanski returns -

At Fouquet's on January 29, the president of César Alain Terzian reveals the nominees for the 45th ceremony on February 28: "J'accuse" by Roman Polanski, whose release was disrupted by a new accusation of rape against the director, leads the race nominations for twelve awards.

The Academy "is not an authority which must have moral positions", underlines Alain Terzian. "Unless I am mistaken, 1.5 million French people went to see his film. Question them".

This did not prevent the controversy from starting all over again around Polanski, which French cinema is regularly accused of protecting too much. If the Minister of Culture Franck Riester emphasizes that the Academy "is free to choose", his colleague in charge of gender equality Marlène Schiappa wonders about "the message that is sent".

Feminist associations have since announced a protest rally outside the Salle Pleyel on the day of the ceremony.

On the day of the appointments, and the following, Alain Terzian also promises reforms to the Academy. He evokes an "essential modernization", passing through "openness" and "parity".

- Act 3: the revolt of 400 -

Some 400 personalities from French cinema, including Omar Sy, Bertrand Tavernier, Céline Sciamma and Agnès Jaoui signed a column on February 10 in Le Monde to demand a "thorough reform" of the Académie des César.

They complain that the members of the Academy have "no voice in the chapter, neither in the functioning of the Academy and of the association (which governs it, note), nor in the course of the ceremony". They also denounce "dysfunctions", an "opacity of accounts" generating fantasies, and statutes which "have not evolved for a very long time" and are still based on "cooptation", and deem insufficient the changes promised by its president Alain Terzian the day before in the Sunday Journal.

The crisis, which hitherto brooded, explodes in broad daylight. Three days later, the direction of the Academy chooses the collective resignation.

© 2020 AFP