"An Officer and a Spy" and "Les Miserables" battle it out for the César
Thursday, January 30, 2020 at 12:12PM
NATHANIEL R in Adele Haenel, An Officer and a Spy, By the Grace of God, Celine Sciamma, César Awards, Francophile, Ladj Ly, Les Miserables, Oh Mercy, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, foreign films

by Nathaniel R

France's Oscar parallel competition, the Césars, have finally announced their nominations for the film year. Roman Polanski's adaptation of Robert Harris's novel An Officer and a Spy leads the nominations. It's based on the Dreyfus affair and Emile Zola's "J'Accuse!" letter, both of which are also the topic of one of Oscar's earliest Best Picture winners The Life of Emile Zola (1937).  The drama leads the Césars with 12 nominations while the Oscar-nominated Les Miserables and the riveting queer romantic drama Portrait of a Lady on Fire were right behind with 10 nominations each. After the jump all the nominations and a few notes...

Best Film

Only three of these films have made it to the States (Les Miserables, Portrait of a Lady on Fire and By The Grace of God) and all were critically well received. We're hoping Oh Mercy gets here since Desplechin is such an interesting filmmaker.  An Officer and a Spy is clearly not travelling to the States given the fury surrounding Roman Polanski. Naturally that film leading the nominations has upset people and boycotts have already been threatened. 

Polanski's famous victim Samantha Geimer, isn't amused (as usual) about the outrage, and whether or not you agree with her various statements about leaving Polanski alone -- she argues that people don't actually care about victims, only being outraged -- it is a real shame that people attack her when she speaks up. When they do, however well-intentioned their outrage might be, it only supports her point. She is the literal victim in this equation. 

 

Once again, films do not sexually assault people, but censorship hurt all of us. We should be grateful for everything positive that anyone has to offer society, not demand tests of purity or exile. https://t.co/TBp6uzMBhZ

— Samantha Jane Geimer (@sjgeimer) January 29, 2020

 

Here's hoping Portrait of a Lady on Fire miraculously wins... though we think the safe call is Les Miserables  which France obviously loves more than Portrait (see the Oscar submission) and it comes with less controversy than the nomination leader. That said An Officer and a Spy is quite popular in some European quarters. Polanski won Best Director at the Lumieres (France's other big movie prize) though Les Miserables took the top honor.  

Best Director

Extremely happy to see Sciamma and Ozon and Desplechin all here. Toledano and Nakache are the directing duo that previously had a big international hit with The Intouchables (2011) which recently received a remake in the US (The Upside).

Best Actress

 

Though Eva Green was born in France she's ben more of an international star than a French-specific one. This is actually her first César nomination. This is Chiara Mastroianni's first nomination since 1993 when she was up for Most Promising Actress so that must feel good for Deneuve's talented daughter! Adele Haenel is of course already a César favourite, winning twice this past decade and here receiving her 7th nomination. Noemie Merlant recently won the Lumiere. Will she repeat at the Césars? (I preferred Haenel from that duet but your mileage may vary). 

The César champ here, though, is Karin Viard, on her 13th nomination (she's won thrice). 

Best Actor

That's like a who's who of great French actors! 

 

Best Foreign Film

Three of the current Oscar nominees for Best Picture show up as does Almodovar's Pain and Glory! It's a bit surprising that Italy couldn't get traction in the International Film race with Oscar since the movie obviously has a fanbase. 

 

Best Documentary

Best First Film

 

Why was Atlantics relegated to this category when Best Film was available?!? And, speaking of, Mati Diop would have looked perfect in that director lineup.

 

Best Original Screenplay

 

You know our preference here. 

Best Adapted Screenplay

 

Best Supporting Actress

Fanny!

Best Supporting Actor

Swann Arlaud

Best Female Newcomer

Luana Bajrami is so terrific in Portrait  so it's nice to see her included here given that most of the praise usually goes to the romantic duet at the movie's center! 

Best Male Newcomer

Djebril Zonga

 

Best Animated Feature

 

Did you know that France is the world's third largest producer of animated content?!? Now you do! The US is number one but we're not sure which country comes in second. We learned that France was the third largest over at Cartoon Brew

 

Best Editing

ARGH. How is Portrait of a Lady not here. The editing is amazing. 

 

Best Cinematography

 

Claire Mathon won this prize at the Lumieres. Will she repeat at the Césars?

Best Costumes

 Jean du Jardin in Chavanne costumes

We're not familiar with most of these designers but have long-loved Chavanne for his work with Christophe Honore and Francois Ozon. In addition to the Polanski film he also costumed By The Grace of God, Sorry Angel, and Proxima this past yeaer.

 

Best Production Design

 Cyrano My Love

 

Best Original Score

Best Sound

So if you've been keeping the track the nomination tally went like so

  1. AN OFFICER AND A SPY - 12 nominations
  2. LES MISERABLES / PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE  - 10 nominations
  3. LA BELLE EPOQUE - 9 nominations
  4. BY THE GRACE OF GOD / THE SPECIALS  - 8 nominations
  5. OH MERCY - 6 nominations
  6. ATLANTICS / I LOST MY BODY - 3 nominations
  7. CYRANO MY LOVE - 2 nominations

 

It's perhaps worth noting that La Belle Epoque, An Officer and a Spy, and The Specials were released in France after the cutoff date for the Oscar submission eligibility (September 30th, 2019) this season so if France has an off 2020 you might hear these titles pop up again on their finalist list for the next Oscar season's submission options. 

 

Article originally appeared on The Film Experience (http://thefilmexperience.net/).
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