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France
French film awards: Les Césars 2009
Article published on the 2009-02-28 Latest update 2009-02-28 16:26 TU
34th French film awards. Best film "Séraphine" director Martin Provost, best actress Yoland Moreau
Photo: REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes
One single film took seven French film awards on Friday night. Séraphine, a film about a house-cleaner whose hidden talent as a painter is uncovered by her German art-collector employer, won best film, as well as six other awards including best actress for Yolande Moreau in the title role. Vincent Cassel, won the César for best actor, for his performance as Mesrine, a real-life French gangster, in the film of the same name directed by Jean-Francois Richet who got the best director César.
Séraphine, a 48-year-old cleaning lady from the early 1900s, living in a small but picturesque town north of Paris and who turns out to be a fabulously talented artist, beat hands down the underworld leader of the 1970s in France, Jacques Mesrine.
The 2009 French film awards turned the tables on the pundits who'd banked on Mesrine sweeping the board. The violent gangster film had ten César nominations, but the jury, presided by actress Charlotte Gainsbourg decied to give it only three. Vincent Cassel won the César for best actor, Jean-François Richet won best director, a team of six sound engineers won the César for best sound.
On the other hand, Séraphine, directed by Martin Provost, a revelation-type work, won seven Césars, best film, best actress (Belgian star, Yolande Moreau), best screenplay, best photography, best music, best decor and best costumes.
Other notable awards, and productions in 2008 were the best documentary for Les Plages d'Agnès by director/photographer Agnès Varda, an autobiographical memoir, and best screen adaptation, for the film Entre les murs, a docu-drama about relations between teachers and school children by François Bégaudeau, Robin Campillo and Laurent Cantet, which won the Golden Palm at the Cannes Festival last year.
Best foreign film César went to Waltz with Bashir, an animation-documentary about the horrors of Israel's 1982 war with Lebanon, as they marked Israeli soliders who took part, made by Israeli director Ari Folman.
US actor Dustin Hoffman received an honorary César for his cinema career.
The 34th César ceremony also paid posthumous tributes to the founder of the French film awards, Georges Cravenne, and to producer-directors, Christian Fechner and Claude Berri, all of whom passed away in the last 12 months.
