France announces César nominations

In France, the nominees for the national film award “Cesar” have been announced. The top three in terms of the number of nominations included the drama Lost Illusions, the musical Annette, and the biopic Alyn.

The 47th César Awards will take place on February 25 in Paris.

The leader in the number of nominations was the historical drama Lost Illusions directed by Xavier Giannoli. The film had its world premiere in September 2021 at the 78th Venice Film Festival. This film adaptation of the novel of the same name by Honore de Balzac claims the country’s main film award in 15 categories, including “Best Film” and “Best Director”. Benjamin Voisin, the male lead, was nominated for a César in the Best Leading Actor category.

Annette, the musical film that opened the Cannes Film Festival 2021, was presented in 11 categories. Director Leos Carax received the Best Director award at Cannes. The film is also nominated for the César in the two leading categories – best film and best director. Leading Actor Adam Driver was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role.

The film “Aline”, which tells the life story of the world-famous Canadian singer Celine Dion, was shot by French actress and director Valerie Lemercier. She also played the main role. For this work, Lemercier was nominated for “Cesar” as “Best Actress of the First Plan”, the film also claims awards in the nominations for best film and best director.

Also in the list of nominees for the award in the category “Best Film” was the film “The Event” by Audre Diwan. This is the story of a student who, in France in 1963, is trying to get rid of a child under the ban on abortion, which remained a criminal offense until 1975.

The highly successful crime thriller North Bastion is contending for the title of Best Picture. This is a movie about the work of the criminal police brigade in dangerous areas in the north of Marseille and the social drama “Fracture”, which tells about the problem of inequality.

There are three women on the list of nominees for the César for Best Director. In addition to Valerie Lemercier and Audre Divan, Julie Ducournot claims to win with the film Titan. The picture received the main prize of the 74th Cannes Film Festival in July last year.

Coupe No. 6 by Finnish director Juho Kuosmanen, in which Russian actor Yura Borisov played the lead male role, was nominated for a César in the Best Foreign Film category.