César Winners: David Fincher, "The Night of the 12th" and surprise presenter Brad Pitt
Saturday, February 25, 2023 at 9:22AM by Arnaud Trouve
Brad Pitt and Virginie Efira present the Honorary César to David Fincher
The 48th French César Awards were just held and, as expected, The Night of the 12th was the big winner. It won Best Film, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor and Best Male Newcomer, just like last year's champion Lost Illusions. Its two additional prizes were for Best Sound and Best Director. Dominik Moll almost broke the record at the Césars for the longest time between two directing wins (he previously won 22 years ago for the thriller With A Friend Like Harry)...
(The actual record still belongs to Roman Polanski with 23 years between his wins for Tess and The Pianist)
The Night of the 12th follows a police crew trying to find the murderer of a 21-year-old woman. A young police lieutenant (played by Bastien Bouillon) becomes obsessed with tracking down the killer, who may be one of a half dozen male suspects. This unsolved case is a riveting tale, both fascinating and chilling. It is adapted from the book "18.3. Une année à la PJ" by journalist and screenwriter Pauline Guéna.
"Night of the 12th" starring Bastien Bouillon and Bouli Lanners.
The Night of the 12th premiered Out of Competition in Cannes last year, just like the winner for Best Foreign Film the Spanish-French co-production The Beasts which just swept the Goyas and stars two Gallic actors (Denis Ménochet & Marina Foïs). This is Spain's 4th victory at the Césars, but the first for a film not directed by Pedro Almodóvar!
Night of... and its unresolved mystery echo the neo-noir Zodiac by maestro David Fincher, who was awarded the Honorary César by an unannounced Brad Pitt. I really enjoyed the montage of Fincher's filmography but where was Alien 3 ?
David Fincher at the Césars - image via French Huffington Post
Et pour conclure cette Cérémonie des Césars voici un extrait de la filmographie de David Fincher pic.twitter.com/fNr7kgXKpn
— Le cinéphile (@FeatheryGlow) February 25, 2023
Other multiple winners were Full Time (Irène Drésel won Best Original Score, a first for a solo female composer) and the heist comedy L'Innocent which was the most nominated film of the night. It took home Best Original Screenplay for actor/director/screenwriter Louis Garrel and Best Supporting Actress for Noémie Merlant.
You can find the full list of nominees here if you missed that.
Here are the winners...
Virginie Efira finally wins the César on her 6th nomination
Queen Virginie Efira 👑 Elle remporte le #César2023 de la meilleure actrice 🫶🏻 pic.twitter.com/v1Y8v18mTT
— CANAL+ (@canalplus) February 24, 2023
BEST FILM “The Night of the 12th”
BEST DIRECTOR Dominik Moll, “The Night of the 12th”
BEST ACTRESS Virginie Efira, “Revoir Paris” (her first win after 6 nominations)
Benoît Magimel has won Best Actor two years in a row. (This is his third César)
"Ça fait vraiment du bien"
— CANAL+ (@canalplus) February 24, 2023
L'émotion de Benoît Magimel, premier acteur à remporter le #César2023 du meilleur acteur deux années de suite ! pic.twitter.com/dDgI2T5ESg
BEST ACTOR Benoît Magimel, “Pacifiction”
BEST FEMALE NEWCOMER Nadia Tereszkiewicz, “Forever Young”
BEST MALE NEWCOMER Bastien Bouillon, “The Night of the 12th”
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR Bouli Lanners, "The Night of the 12th"
Noémie Merlant remporte le #César2023 de la meilleure actrice dans un second rôle pour sa performance dans l'innocent 👏 pic.twitter.com/16IS9Yla47
— CANAL+ (@canalplus) February 24, 2023
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS Noémie Merlant, "L'Innocent"
BEST COSTUMES “Simone, le voyage du siècle”
BEST SET DECORATION "Simone, le voyage du siècle"
BEST ANIMATED FILM “Ma Famille Afghane”, Michaela Pavlatova
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY “Pacifiction”
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY “The Night of the 12th”
BEST EDITING “Full Time”
BEST SOUND “The Night of the 12th”
"On ne sera ni de passage, ni un effet de mode (...) Merci les filles"
— CANAL+ (@canalplus) February 24, 2023
Alice Diop remporte le #César2023 du meilleur premier film et rend hommage aux réalisatrices de la nouvelle génération. pic.twitter.com/XTvBLTmF81
BEST DEBUT FEATURE “Saint Omer”, Alice Diop
Louis Garrel wins his second César. His first was for "Most Promising Actor" way back in 2006. He's now been nominated in six different categories
BEST DOCUMENTARY “Retour à Reims (Fragments)”, Jean-Gabriel Périot
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE “Full Time”
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY “L'Innocent”
BEST FOREIGN FILM “The Beasts”, Rodrigo Sorogoyen
Reader Comments (4)
oops, I forgot Polanski, he actually holds the record for longest time between two directing wins. Before "The Pianist" (2003), he won for "Tess" in 1980 (23 years).
Justice for Alien 3!
La nuit du 12 and As bestas are solid thrillers but Pacifiction is something else.
Arnaud -- I fixed it to reflect Polanski's record.
Antonio & Arnaud - i also think Alien 3 deserves more credit but if i recall correctly Fincher himself doesn't like it (and a lot of people hate it) which makes sense of its continual omission.
Peggy Sue -- that 3 hour running time for Pacifiction makes me *extremely* wary since the topic already sounds dry.