César Awards: ‘Lost Illusions’ Named Best Film, Leos Carax Best Director For ‘Annette’ – Full List

UPDATE, writethru: Xavier Giannoli’s Lost Illusions (Illusions Perdues) scooped the Best Film prize at France’s César Awards this evening in Paris. Along with the top honor, the period drama adapted from the Honoré de Balzac classic took a further six statues and was the overall biggest laureate of the evening. (Scroll down for the full list of winners.)

An absent Leos Carax was named Best Director for Annette, his musical starring Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard that opened the Cannes Film Festival last year — where Carax was also named Best Director — and which took a total five Césars tonight.

Lost Illusions and Annette led nominations coming into the evening, followed by Valérie Lemercier’s Céline Dion-inspired Aline which converted in the Best Actress category for Lemercier’s titular portrayal.

Cédric Jiminez’s Bac Nord (The Stronghold) was shut out across its seven nominations. A box office success at home, it had also been shortlisted by France for submission to the International Feature Oscar race alongside Audrey Diwan’s Venice Golden Lion winner Happening and Julia Ducournau’s Cannes Palme d’Or winner Titane. Of the trio, only Happening scored a prize tonight, in the Female Newcomer category for Anamaria Vartolomei.

Florian Zeller’s The Father took the prize for Best Foreign Film with the French director acknowledging, “It’s very particular to have this honor in your own country for a foreign film… I feel like I’m closing a circle.”

Clocking in at over 3.5 hours, the Césars ceremony was fairly subdued. Host Antoine de Caunes made note of the situation in Ukraine at the top of the show, commenting, “the world around us is collapsing” and offering, “We are thinking of the Ukrainians.”

Honorary César winner Cate Blanchett also mentioned the conflict, saying, “it’s hard to think about other things than what’s happening in Ukraine,” upon accepting the trophy from Isabelle Huppert.

Filmmaker (and a cast member of Lost Illusions), Xavier Dolan paid emotional tribute to the late Gaspard Ulliel who died tragically in January. Ulliel previously won the Best Actor César for 2016’s It’s Only The End Of The World which Dolan directed and wrote. Speaking in the form of a letter to Ulliel’s mother, Dolan said in part, “I’d already written for Gaspard, to Gaspard, but never about Gaspard. The day of his death, I sought out his company by rewatching a number of his films… His career shows itself through all the roles that survive him. We still have his talent and no one can take that away… It’s a whole world that cried for Gaspard, it’s a whole world that still mourns him.”

PREVIOUS: The César Awards, France’s equivalent to the Oscars, are just getting under way at an in-person ceremony at Paris’ Olympia concert hall with screenwriter/director Danièle Thompson presiding over the proceedings and Antoine de Caunes as host, the latter marking his tenth time as emcee.

Along with the winners (scroll down for the list which is being updated live), tributes to late actors and previous César laureates Jean-Paul Belmondo and Gaspard Ulliel are likely to stir emotion on stage tonight. Cate Blanchett is due to receive an honorary César presented by Isabelle Huppert.

Among nominees, Xavier Giannoli’s Illusions Perdues (Lost Illusions) leads the field with a record 15 nominations coming into the event. It’s followed by Leos Carax’s Annette, which opened the Cannes Film Festival last year and has 11 nominations, and Valérie Lemercier’s Aline, the musical dramedy inspired by the life of Céline Dion which also debuted in Cannes and has 10 nods. Audrey Diwan’s Venice Golden Lion winner Happening is tied with Julia Ducournau’s Palme d’Or winner Titane at four nominations.

The past few years have been turbulent for the Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinema which oversees the Césars. In 2020, controversy swirled around nominations for Roman Polanski’s An Officer And A Spy (whose Best Director win sparked walkouts by prominent actresses) and amid a general membership backlash. Last year, actress Corinne Masiero stripped down to her birthday suit on live television in support of France’s intermittent arts workers while presenting the award for Costume Design.

Check back for updates on tonight’s ceremony with winners updated below as they are announced:

BEST FILM
Lost Illusions

BEST DIRECTOR
Leos Carax, Annette


BEST ACTRESS
Valérie Lemercier, Aline


BEST ACTOR

Benoit Magimel, De Son Vivant


BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Le Sommet Des Dieux, dir: Patrick Imbert


BEST ANIMATED SHORT

Folie Douce, Folie Dure, dir: Marine Laclotte


BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

Ron Male, Russell Mael – Annette


BEST SOUND
Erwan Kerzanet, Katia Boutin, Maxence Dussère, Paul Heymans, Thomas Gauder – Annette


BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Xavier Giannoli, Jacques Fieschi – Lost Illusions


BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Arthur Harari, Vincent Poymiro – Onoda, 10,000 Nuits Dans La Jungle

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Christophe Beaucarne, Lost Illusions

BEST EDITING

Nelly Quettier, Annette

BEST FOREIGN FILM
The Father, dir: Florian Zeller

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
La Panthère Des Neiges, dirs: Marie Amiguet, Vincent Munier

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT

Maalbeek, dir: Ismaël Joffroy Chandoutis

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Vincent Lacoste, Lost Illusions


BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Aissatou Dialla Sagna, La Fracture

BEST DEBUT FEATURE
Les Magnétiques, dir: Vincent Maël Cardona


BEST SET DESIGN
Riton Dupire-Clémént, Lost Illusions

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Pierre-Jean Laroque, Lost Illusions

BEST SHORT FILM

Les Mauvais Garçons, dir: Elie Girard


BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

Guillaume Pondard, Annette

BEST MALE NEWCOMER
Benjamin Voisin, Lost Illusions


BEST FEMALE NEWCOMER
Anamaria Vartolomei, Happening