Paris (AFP)

Filmmaker Roman Polanski, targeted by rape charges, received the Best Achievement Award Friday night at the 45th Cesar Awards for his film "J'accuse", which sparked outrage among actress Adèle Haenel, who left the room.

It was the fifth time that the Franco-Polish filmmaker had won this prize, which he had already received for "Tess" in 1980, "Le pianiste" in 2003, "The Ghost Writer" in 2011 and "La Vénus à la Furure "in 2014. He was already the most Caesarized director in this category.

Actress Adèle Haenel, symbol of a new impetus of #MeToo in France since she accused director Christophe Ruggia in November of "repeated touching" when she was a teenager, left the room after the announcement of this price.

"Shame," she said when she left, followed by director Céline Sciamma and a few others, just before the César announcement for best film.

This supreme Cesar award was given to Ladj Ly's film "Les Misérables", which tells the story of a police blunder in a sensitive city of Seine Saint-Denis. "The only enemy is not the other is misery," said the director when he received him.

Roman Polanski and the crew of his film, including the actor Jean Dujardin who plays the main role, were themselves absent from the ceremony, where they had decided not to go when feminists had organized a rally for protest against the twelve nominations received by his feature film, historic thriller on the Dreyfus Affair.

- "Ecoeurée" -

"Disgusted", commented on Instagram after the announcement of the Cesar for best achievement Florence Foresti, the mistress of ceremonies, who had called the filmmaker "Atchoum" several times during the evening in allusion to the Snow White dwarf, refusing to name it.

"Best achievement at Polanski: the room is amazed. Silence, embarrassment. The Caesars of shame!" Tweeted the association Dare feminism.

"I really like Roman Polanski, so I'm very happy for him. After that, not everyone agrees but long live freedom," acted the opposite actress Fanny Ardant, who received the Cesar Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Before the ceremony began, a few hundred demonstrators - mostly women - had protested outside the Salle Pleyel, where the Césars were held. Some, equipped with smoke bombs, had tried to approach the Pleyel room by shouting "Lock Polanski", before being repulsed by the police.

They had launched slogans hostile to the filmmaker like "rapist Polanski, guilty cinema, accomplice audience". On placards one could read: "Victims of Polanski, we believe you" or "Down with the patriarchy".

Roman Polanski's film won three awards in total - with those for the best adaptation and the best costumes -, against four for "Les Misérables" - which also won the best male hope, the editing, and the public César - and only one for the "Portrait of the young girl on fire" by Céline Sciamma, for which Adèle Haenel was named, that of the photo.

Céline Sciamma, very involved in the 50/50 collective for parity in cinema, could have created a historic moment by winning the César for best achievement, won only once by a woman, Tonie Marshall for "Venus Beauty (Institute) ", twenty years ago.

- Anaïs Demoustier and Roschdy Zem sacred -

The place given to Roman Polanski is considered unacceptable by feminists and a part of public opinion, whereas he has been targeted since November by a new accusation of rape by the French Valentine Monnier.

The 86-year-old director is also still being sued in the U.S. for illegal sex with a minor in 1977.

"J'accuse" had an eventful exit in France, and the controversy had re-emerged at the end of January after the announcement of the film's 12 nominations for the Césars.

The Minister of Culture Franck Riester had estimated Friday morning that a César for best director for Polanski would be "a bad symbol compared to the necessary awareness that we must all have in the fight against sexual and gender-based violence".

Adèle Haenel had considered that "to distinguish Polanski is to spit in the face of all the victims".

The interpretation awards went to actress Anaïs Demoustier for "Alice and the mayor" by Nicolas Pariser, and actor Roschdy Zem for "Roubaix, une lumière" by Arnaud Desplechin.

bur-Jfg-aje-slb / rh / ao

© 2020 AFP