Florian Zeller’s ‘El padre’ wins the award for best foreign film
‘The Lost Illusions’, Xavier Giannoli’s ambitious adaptation of the homonymous novel by the French writer Honoré de Balzac, was the big winner of the 2022 César Awards, winning seven awards, including best film, best revelation actor (Benjamin Vospin) and Best Supporting Actor (Vincent Lacoste).
The film, which started as the favorite with a record 15 nominations, masterfully tells the story of Lucien Chardon, alias Lucien de Rubempré (Vospin), an ambitious provincial poet seeking glory in Paris.
The cinema was once again the main protagonist of the 47th César awards ceremony, after the two previous galas were surrounded by controversy. That of 2020 was marked by the controversy over the 12 nominations for Roman Polanksi, accused of rape by several women, and that of 2021 by the demands of the sector to demand the end of the cultural deadlock in France after a black year for the world of cinema due to the covid-19 pandemic.
The war in Ukraine was present on the red carpet of the legendary Olympia room in Paris, where the ceremony took place. ‘Tonight, we think of the Ukrainians,’ said Antoine de Caunes, master of ceremonies. ‘How can we not evoke what is happening right now three hours from here?’ asked the gala presenter. ‘Tonight we are not going to change the world. We are going to laugh, we are going to be moved, because the essence of our profession is to continue no matter what happens. Even if the world seems to be sinking around us,’ added de Caunes.
“It is difficult to think or talk about anything other than what is happening in Ukraine, but as Antoine (de Caunes) has said, we are here to celebrate cinema,” said Cate Blanchett in her acceptance speech for the César de Honor. The Australian actress and producer received the award from French Isabelle Huppert for her entire career, two weeks after winning the first International Goya award.
The César for best director went to Léos Carax for the rock opera ‘Annette’, which won five statuettes. The film, starring Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard, had 11 nominations.
The award for best actor went to Benoît Magimel for ‘De son vivant’, one of the surprises of the night, while the award for best actress went to Valérie Lemercier for ‘Aline’, the film inspired by the life of the Canadian singer Celine Dion.
‘El padre’ by director Florian Zeller, starring Anthony Hopkins, won the César for best foreign film, an award that was also nominated for ‘Parallel Mothers’ by Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar.
Also competing in that category were the Finnish ‘Compartment number 6’ by Juho Kuosmanen, the Japanese ‘Drive My Car’ by Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, the American ‘First Cow’ by Kelly Reichardt, the Norwegian ‘The Worst Person in the World’ by Joachim Trier and the Iranian ‘La Loi de Téhéran’ by Saeed Roustayi.
Anamaria Vartolomei won the César for best new actress for ‘The Event’, a film about abortion. The César for Best Supporting Actress went to Aissatou Diallo Sagna, a nurse by profession in real life, for ‘La Fracture’. This film recounts the tensions of a night in the emergency room of a Paris hospital with the ‘yellow vests’ demonstrations as a backdrop.
The award for best debut film went to ‘Les magnétiques’ by Vincent Maël Cardona, the best documentary went to ‘La panthère des neiges’ by Marie Amiguet and Vincent Munier and the best animated feature film went to ‘Le sommet des dieux’ by Patrick Imbert.