| French Césars winners 2008: 'La graine et le mulet', 'La môme' and Mathieu Amalric |
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| Written by the editor | |
| Saturday, 23 February 2008 | |
 Edith Piaf biopic La môme (La Vie en Rose) from Olivier Dahan went home with five Césars, the French national film prizes, yesterday evening, making it the biggest winner, but it was Abdellatif Kechiche's immigrant tale La graine et le mulet (The Secret of the Grain) that was the real winner, going home with four Césars including Best Film, Best Director and Best Screenplay. Marion Cotillard won Best Actress for her role as Edith Piaf in La môme, while the Best Actor César went to Mathieu Amalric for his role as a quadriplegic in Julian Schnabel's Le scaphandre et le papillon (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly), another biopic, this time of French Elle editor Jean-Dominique Bauby. The Césars for Best Supporting Actor and Supporting Actress went to Sami Bouajila in the Aids drama Les témoins (The Witnesses) and Julie Depardieu in the WWII family drama Un secret (A Secret) respectively. Animated political coming-of-age tale Persepolis from Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Parronaud went home with two prizes: Best First Film and Best Adaptation (there is no Best Animated Film category at the Césars). Iranian-born director Barbet Schroeder made the Best Documentary of the year: L'avocat de la terreur (Terror's Advocate), a portrait of the lawyer Jacques Vergès, whose clients include Nazi criminals, suspected terrorists and freedom fighters. The Best Newcomer Césars went to Hafsia Herzi for her role in La graine et le mulet, for which she had won the same prize at the Venice Film Festival, and to Laurent Stocker for his role as an aging aristocrat with a heart of gold in Ensembe, c'est tout (Hunting and Gathering). Many of the technical categories went to the crew of La môme: Best Production Design, Best Costume Design, Best Cinematography and Best Sound. Best Editing was won by Le scaphandre et le papillon, while Les chansons d'amour (Love Songs), appropriately went home with the Best Music César. German Stasi tale Das Leben der Anderen (The Lives of Others) won the Best Foreign Language Film César. The full list is available on the website of the French Academy. (photo: Hafsia Herzi in La graine et le mulet, (c) Pathé distribution) |
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