César Winners: Kristen Stewart (!!!), Timbuktu, and More
Saturday, February 21, 2015 at 1:25PM 
Can Timbuktu upset IDA for foreign film at the Oscars? The big winner of the 40th annual César Awards (aka the French Oscars) was the Oscar-nominated foreign language film from Mauritania, Timbuktu. It took home seven prizes but despite the excitable headlines 'round the web it wasn't quite a clean sweep and not quite super dominant since it had no acting nominations. But it did terrifically well, all told, losing only one of its 8 nominations, Set Decoration, to another retelling of The Beauty and the Beast starring new TFE obsession Léa Seydoux. Can we please get that one stateside?
Saint Laurent, France's Oscar submission this season (mixed reviewed but also loved by Team Experience) won only Costumes. If it had such restrained love at home, one wonders why France submitted it as it was not typical Oscar bait - way too gay/risque for AMPAS.
The history-making news is that Kristen Stewart became the first American woman to win a competitive César for acting (Adrien Brody won for The Pianist previously). The César Awards often give American stars tributes and honoraries (like Scarlett Johansson last year and Sean Penn this time) but they don't regularly compete and they certainy don't win. The prize was Best Supporting Actress for Clouds of Sils Maria. We can vouch that she's just fantastic in it as the close confidante / personal assistant of Juliette Binoche's diva actress. Their chemistry is, as Margaret said, "insane".
Which is why this part of Kristen's acceptance speech is so great...
THE WINNERS
FILM Timbuktu
DIRECTOR Abderrahmane Sissako, Timbuktu
ACTRESS Adele Haenel, Love at First Fight. This 26 year-old rising star was up against major French divas like Deneuve, Cotillard, Binoche, and Viard but she won anyway. You may recognize her from the popular export Water Lilies (2008)
ACTOR Pierre Niney, Yves Saint Laurent
Both Saint Laurents from the competing biopics were nominated but Niney beat Gaspard Ulliel to the gold
SUPPORTING ACTRESS Kristen Stewart, Clouds of Sils Maria
SUPPORTING ACTOR Reda Kateb, Hippocrates
You'll recognize him as the key tortured prisoner in Zero Dark Thirty and from his major role in Un Prophete.
NEW ACTRESS Louane Emera, The Belier Family
She got famous on France's version of "The Voice" so really Reality TV as fame breeding ground is a pan cultural virus
NEW ACTOR Kevin Asais, Love at First Fight
Here's the trailer to that film which won 3 Césars - looks like a youth in the military romance of sorts?
and the rest
FIRST FILM Love at First Fight by Thomas Cailley
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY Timbuktu
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY Diplomatie
COSTUMES Saint Laurent
Léa Seydoux and Vincent Cassell starred in a new version of this oft told fairy tale
SET DECORATION The Beauty and the Beast (pictured above)
CINEMATOGRAPHY Timbuktu
EDITING Timbuktu
SOUND Timbuktu
ANIMATED FILM Miniscule (our review - it beat the Oscar nominated Song of the Sea)
MUSIC Timbuktu
DOCUMENTARY The Salt of the Earth (the only overlap nominee with Oscar's parallel category)
SHORT FILM Le Femme de Rio
ANIMATED SHORT Les Petits Caillous
And the Honorary César went to SEAN PENN of course who the French Academy dubbed:
A mythical actor, an activist and an exceptional director... a unique icon of American cinema.
Marion Cotillard presented Sean Penn with his Honorary César
Charlize Theron was his date of course. Things are very official now.
Reader Comments (18)
Hmmmm...............Madonna, Robin and now Charlize. Think he has a type?
I'm happy for KStew. She did a silly throwaway series of fluff films and now she has the money and position to do anything she wants. Hardly the first actor to take this route and doesn't lessen her talent.
When does Sils Maria open Stateside and do you think it will be a player in next year's awards races?
"The history news is that Kristen Stewart became the first American to win a competitive César for acting."
First American woman, yes, but not the first American. Adrien Brody won a César for The Pianist back in its year (The Pianist swept the Césars that year).
And yes, Stewart is terrific in Sils Maria, best thing in the movie by far, which is why I wasn't too fond of the film's epilogue (if you know what I mean).
Cotillard and Brody are also the only actors to win both a César and an Oscar for the same role.
Very happy for Kristen -- she's worked hard on her career since Twilight ended and it appears it's now paying off. She's going to have to work on her nerves though if she wants Sils Maria to compete in the awards race at the year's end in America -- she is too damn awkward!
Richter Scale - thanks for the correction. that'll teach me to trust other websites and not do my own research.
As someone who can't stand Stewart or her acting I will say that she's one of the few decent things about Clouds of Sils Maria. But she does not deserve to win any awards for it. A million actresses could have played her part.
Good for her. I haven't seen the Twilight films, But I enjoyed her a lot in Still Alice, as well as her roles in Adventureland and Into the Wild. I think she has a lot of promise.
Stewart is so awkward. If she ever has a performance that'll push her into in the awards conversation I see her becoming a Hilary Swank level pariah from one nomination. She doesn't have to win for it to happen. People will eat her alive for everything.
And for the rest of her life, we'll be scratching our heads saying, "But they love her in France!"
Sad man- Can you say that when noting what competitor Syewart had in her category? People I know who saw Sils Maria and the other actresses she was up against said she was an easy winner to pick.
I actually think she has a lot of support in the industry (Julianne Moore, David Fincher) and unlike a Swank, she has a built in fan base. She will apparently reunite with Assayas and I believe the Kelly Reichardt film, so she's gonna be working low-key for another year, at least.
Kristen definitely gave an award worthy performance. Good for her! I will not be surprised if she will be up for awards next season in the US. Reviews from critics for her role in Sils have been unanimously great.
I don't follow. What happened with Swank and why did she become a pariah?
Well, that's one way to start this film year out. She'll surely at least be in the awards convo for this year. She was awkward, but I think it's understandable... she's already awkward as it is, but it was also in front of all these French people, and she also has a reputation as a poor actress, PLUS if you watch the video, the dude who gave her the award was extremely rude to her. Lol. Anyway... congrats to her.
Philip H -- Yes, what was up with that dude? Slamming her award down like that!
I'm a fan of Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Niney, though not amazing, was quite captivating in it. Happy for their win!
I just LOVE the fact that they did two movies about Saint Laurent in the same year.
i guess if you were dating charlize theron, you would look like you just rolled out of bed...
I think, if anything, the Oscars are likely to nominate Stewart sometime soon if she keeps it up. Actors more than anyone else know that sometimes you get sucked into these franchises that don't really typify you as an actor. And she was acclaimed *before* the TWILIGHT movies. I can easily see her getting nominated if she chooses to make a film that could go in that direction (stuff like SILS MARIA will not, I assume, make much of a US awards play given its April release, Frenchiness, and general uneasy mystique).
I wonder if if France they will have debates about whether TIMBUKTU is French enough to win so many awards? Lord knows we have that argument seemingly every time a movie that isn't explicitly Australian wins anything local (hell, even including funding).
Nat...ten lashes with a wet noodle for not noting that the César for the Best Foreign Film went to Mommy. Quite an achievement, when you consider the competitors it was up against: 12 Years a Slave; Boyhood; Grand Budapest Hotel; Ida; Two Days, One Night; Winter Sleep.