César Nominations: 'Lost Illusions' and 'Annette' score but 'Titane' struggles
Wednesday, January 26, 2022 at 6:24PM
NATHANIEL R in Aline, Annette, César Awards, France, Francophile, French cinema, La Fracture, Lost Illusions, Titane

by Nathaniel R

France's own Oscar-like ceremony the Césars will take place this year on February 25th and they've just released their list of nominations. In a mild surprise this past summer's Palme d'Or winner Titane did not do well in the nominations scoring in only 4 categories (Director, Female Newcomer, Cinematography, and Visual Effects). Instead the nominations were led by the costume drama Lost Illusions (15 nominations) which premiered at Venice. Other quick items of note: Canadian writer/director/actor Xavier Dolan, a perennial favourite at Cannes, picked up his first César nomination (Best Supporting Actor). Adam Driver also received an acting nomination for the musical Annette (it's very rare for US stars to be nominated there). Cate Blanchett will be receiving the Honorary César this year. 

The nominations and a few comments are after the jump. If we've written about the film, it's linked up, and since we love French cinema we've covered quite a few of these...

Best Film

You already know we're huge fans of Happening, the French abortion drama that's due for release in the US sometime this year. The Divide, about two middle aged lesbians on an emergency visit to the hospital, won the Queer Palm at Cannes but sadly it hasn't been picked up for US release. 

 

Best Director 


LeMercier wrote/directed/and stars in the pseudo and unauthorized Celine Dion biopic Aline and she's nominated in all three of those categories

 

Best Actress

Seydoux, Krieps, Efira -- none of whom have ever won are up for Best Actress

It's crazy that Virginie Efira and Léa Seydoux haven't won Césars yet but this is not likely the year since they basically ignored the films they're in.

 

Best Actor

Driver, Magimel, and Niney

It's a big surprise, given the seven nominations (!) for Vincent Lindon to be snubbed given how extraordinary he is in Titane. It's extremely rare for an American actor to get nominated at the Césars but in the past if they have, they've won. So watch out for an Adam Driver win for Annette. On the other hand Magimel just won the Lumière playing a man with a terminal illness so maybe it's him.

 

 

Best Supporting Actress

Sagna, Exarchopoulos and Fichaud

Our own Elisa Giudici called Exarchopoulos' performance "splendid" well over a year ago when Mandibules first premiered so given the lack of other nominations for the film, the performance must have stuck with César voters, too.

 

Best Supporting Actor

Dolan, Lacoste, Leklou

 

Best First Film

 

Best Foreign Film

It's strange that Parallel Mothers wasn't eligible for the European Film Awards and also that Spain didn't submit it to the Oscars but other than those two bodies it continues to do well leading up to Oscar voting (will the Academy honor Cruz or Almodóvar? They feel like longshots but maybe. Interesting that First Cow is still making its way out there in the world (it first premiered in 2019, had the bulk of its releases in 2020, and continued to hit international markets in 2021)

 

Best Female Newcomer

Rousselle, Vartolomei, and Zhang

Anamaria Vartolomei just won the Lumière in Best Actress for Happening (a very powerful abortion drama) but the Césars placed her in the newcomer category instead.

 

Best Male Newcomer

Outalbali, Samba, and Voisin

Some of you will know Sami Outalbali from the Netflix series Sex Education 

Best Original Screenplay

Best Adapted Screenplay

Best Animated Film

Best Documentary 

The Velvet Queen, currently in US release, just won the Lumière and placed 13th on Glenn Dunks list of the 25 Best Documentaries of 2021.

 

Best Cinematography 

Best Original Score

 

Best Sound Editing

Best Editing

Best Costumes 

Best Set Design

Best Visuel Effects 

 

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