Yesterday, the César Awards, France’s equivalent to the Oscars, were handed out. Taking the top prize, in somewhat of a surprise, was Les Misérables from Ladj Ly. Clearly a top contender for the award, it faced stiff competition from An Officer and a Spy, as well as especially from Portrait of a Lady on Fire. However, France’s submission to the Academy Awards had that upper hand, and in the end, it led the way here. Of course, what was most noteworthy was actress and nominee Adèle Haenel (from Portrait of a Lady on Fire) walked out of the ceremony when it was announced that Roman Polanski had won the Best Director prize for An Officer and a Spy. Her protest made waves throughout the industry, and even thought Polanski was not in attendance, it was a powerful statement, to be sure… Here now are the Cesar Award results: Best Film “La Belle Epoque,” Nicolas Bedos “By The Grace of God,” François Ozon “The Specials,” Eric Toledano, Olivier Nakache “An Officer And A Spy,” Roman Polanski “Les Miserables,” Ladj Ly *WINNER “Portrait Of A Lady On Fire,” Céline Sciamma “Oh Mercy,” Arnaud Desplechin Best Director François Ozon, “By The Grace of God” Eric Toledano, Olivier Nakache, “The Specials” Roman Polanski, “An Officer And A Spy” *WINNER Ladj Ly, “Les Miserables” Céline Sciamma, “Portrait Of A Lady On Fire” Arnaud Desplechin, “Oh Mercy” Best Actress Anais Demoustier, “Alice and The Mayor” *WINNER Eva Green, “Proxima” Adele Haenel, “Portrait Of A Lady On Fire” Chiara Mastroianni, “Chambre 212” Noemie Merlant, “Portrait Of A Lady On Fire” Doria Tillier, “La belle époque” Karin Viard, “The Perfect Nanny” Best Actor Daniel Auteuil, “La belle époque” Damien Bonnard, “Les Miserables” Vincent Cassel, “The Specials” Jean Dujardin, “An Officer and a Spy” Reda Kateb, “The Specials” Melvil Poupaud, “By The Grace of God” Roschdy Zem, “Oh Mercy” *WINNER Best Foreign Film “Pain and Glory,” Pedro Almodovar “The Young Ahmed,” Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne “Joker,” Todd Phillips “Lola vers la mer,” Laurent Micheli “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” Quentin Tarantino “Parasite,” Bong Joon-Ho *WINNER “The Traitor,” Marco Bellocchio Best Documentary “68, mon père et les clous,” Samuel Bigiaoui “La cordillere des songes,” Patricio Guzman “Lourdes,” Thierry Demaizière, Alain Teurlai “M,” Yolande Zauberman *WINNER “Wonder Boy Olivier Rousteing, ne sous X,” Anissa Bonnefont Best First Film “Atlantics,” Mati Diop “Nom de la terre, Edouard Bergeon “Wolf’s Call,” Antonin […]