The rural drama As bestas, by Rodrigo Sorogoyen, has confirmed the strong impulse of the Goyas and has crossed the Pyrenees to obtain the César for best foreign film. At the great French cinema gala, the film Pacifiction, by Albert Serra, which had nine nominations, won the award for best actor, Benoît Magimel, and for best cinematography, by Artur Tort.
“I don’t know how we got here,” Sorogoyen said as he picked up the statuette. He acknowledged that, while traveling by train to Paris, he wondered what he was doing, since he was not thinking about victory. “Thank you for letting us be a small part of French cinema -added the director-. It is an honor”.
Pacificction, a political thriller set in French Polynesia, had high expectations that were disappointed. But Magimel, who gives a superb portrayal of the French high commissioner in the territory, saw his work rewarded. When receiving the award, he stressed that he had enormous freedom to act, a recognition to Serra, who promotes the improvisation of the interpreters. The director of photography, Tort, explained how difficult it was to work in settings that were almost always natural, with the obligation to allow the actors maximum leeway without disturbing them.
The big winner at the Césars was the Franco-Belgian film The Night of the 12th, by Dominik Moll, a suspenseful story about a crime not solved by the police. The tape took six statuettes, including the best film and best production. Virginie Efira won the best actress trophy for her role in Revoir Paris.
The French film awards have been awarded by 4,705 voters, all of them professionals in the sector. His task is to watch -or try to watch- 260 French films, 324 foreign feature films and 48 short films, a daunting task, if not impossible. Some of them, interviewed by the newspaper Le Parisien, recognized that it is materially unfeasible to see all the films, so they necessarily have to choose, or view only partially the films.
The ceremony, held at the mythical Olympia theater, was more sober than in previous editions. There was its little scandal, something already traditional, when an environmental activist from the Dernière Rénovation movement burst onto the stage. The director interrupted the transmission for two minutes, to give a pre-recorded clip, while the law enforcement service took the intruder away, with which the incident was hidden from the public that was following it on television. Canal’s television audience has not stopped declining in recent years, despite the fact that the pay channel offers the gala open. The musical performance was in charge of Charlotte Gainsbourg, at the piano, accompanied by a rapper.
This year a special tribute has been paid to the recently deceased Jean-Luc Godard and Jean-Louis Trintignant, two glories of national cinema. An honorary César was awarded to American filmmaker David Fincher. The director shot part of his latest work, The Killer, in Paris, which is scheduled to premiere on Netflix in November. Fincher was presented with the Brad Pitt Award. The presence of the Hollywood star at the Olympia Theater was a surprise.