France’s Cesar Awards Nominations Unveiled

Louis Garrel’s “The Innocent” and Dominik Moll’s thriller “The Night of the 12th” are leading the race at the 48th Cesar Awards, France’s equivalent to the Oscars.

Nominated for 11 Cesar nominations, “The Innocent” is a heist romantic comedy starring Garrel, Roschdy Zem and Noemie Merlant, who previously starred in “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” and most recently in “Tár.” Produced by Anne-Dominique Toussaint at Les Films des Tournelles, the crowdpleaser world premiered out of competition at Cannes for the 75th anniversary of the festival.

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“The Night of the 12th,” meanwhile, is in the running for 10 Cesar awards. The brooding topical procedural, which also opened as part of Cannes’ Premiere section, stars Bastien Bouillon and Bouli Lanners as two cops trying to solve a gruesome murder. The movie, produced by Haut et Court (“The Class”), delves into issues of gender and violence.

Other top Cesar contenders include Cedric Klapisch’s dance-filled “Rise,” Albert Serra’s “Pacifiction,” Valeria Bruni Tedeschi’s “Forever Young,” Cedric Jimenez’s “November,” Eric Gravel’s “A Plein Temps” and Alice Diop’s “Saint Omer,” among others. The nominations represent some of 2022’s highest grossing French-language movies, notably “November,” “The Innocent” and “The Night of the 12th.”

Juliette Binoche is vying for best actress for her turn in Emmanuel Carrère’s “Between Two Worlds,” along with Fanny Ardant in Carine Tardieu’s “The Young Lovers,” Laure Calamy in “Full Time,” Virginie Efira in Alice Winocour’s “Revoir Paris” and Adele Exarchopoulos in Emmanuel Marre and Julie Lecoustre’s “Zero Fucks Given.” Missing from these is Elsa Zilberstein for her performance in “Simone: A Journey of the Century,” a biopic of Simone Veil, an Auschwitz survivor who became health minister of France and championed the 1975 law that legalized abortion in France.

In the actor category, Jean Dujardin, the Oscar-winning actor of “The Artist,” is nominated for his part as a dedicated cop investigating the November 2015 Paris attacks. He will face off with Garrel with “The Innocent,” Vincent Macaigne in Emmanuel Mouret’s “Diary Of A Fleeting Affair,” Benoit Magimel in “Pacifiction” and Denis Menochet in Francois Ozon’s “Peter von Kant.”

Interestingly, Claire Denis, who had a banner 2022, winning the Silver Bear in Berlin with “Both Sides of the Blade” and the Grand Prize at Cannes with “Stars at Noon” (shared with Lukas Dhont’s “Close”), didn’t receive a single nomination. Other female directors who are surprisingly left out include Rebecca Zlotowski with “Other People’s Children” and Mia Hansen-Love with “One Fine Morning” which premiered to warm reviews at Venice and Cannes’ Directors Fortnight, respectively. Leonore Serraille’s Cannes competition drama “Mother and Son” is also missing.

Indeed, the best director category is entirely dominated by male filmmakers (Moll, Garrel, Jimenez, Klapisch and Serra) while the best films in the running include a single title helmed by a female director, Bruni Tedeschi with “Forever Young.”

“Saint Omer,” for which Alice Diop earned the Lion of the Future and the Golden Lion at Venice, is nominated for four awards, including best first film and female newcomer for Guslagie Malanda, along with Charlotte Le Bon with “Falcon Lake,” Lise Akoka and Romane Gueret’s “The Worst Ones,” Leopold Legrand’s “Le sixieme enfant” and Vincent Leport’s “Bruno Reidal.”

“Close” is part of the best foreign film category, alongside Tarik Saleh’s “Cairo Conspiracy,” Jerry Skolimowski’s “EO,” Ruben Ostlund’s “Triangle of Sadness” and Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s “As Bestas.”

Nominations were unveiled online on Wednesday morning (Jan. 25). The 48th edition of the César Awards will take place on Feb. 24. An honorary award will be bestowed to American director David Fincher, while Tahar Rahim, the critically acclaimed French actor of “A Prophet” and “The Serpent,” will preside over the ceremony.

Here’s the full list of nominations for the 2023 Cesar Awards:

Best Film 
“Forever Young”
“Rise”
“The Innocent”
“The Night Of The 12^th“
“Pacification”

Best Director 
Cedric Klapisch, “Rise”
Louis Garrel, “The Innocent”
Cedric Jimenez, “November”
Dominik Moll, “The Night Of The 12^th“
Albert Serra, “Pacification”

Best Actress

Fanny Ardant, “The Young Lovers”
Juliette Binoche, “Between Two Worlds”
Laure Calami, “Full Time”
Virginie Efira, “Paris Memories”
Adele Exarchopoulos, “Zero Fucks Given”

Best Actor
Jean Dujardin, “November”
Louis Garrel, “The Innocent”
Vincent Macaigne, “Diary Of A Fleeting Affair”
Benoit Magimel, “Pacification”
Denis Menochet, “Peter von Kant”

Best Supporting Actress
Judith Chemla, “Le Sixieme Enfant”
Anais Demoustier, “November”
Anouk Grinberg, “The Innocent”
Lyna Khoudri, “November”
Noemie Merland, “The Innocent”

Best Supporting Actor
Francois Civil, “Rise”
Bouli Lanners, “The Night Of The 12^th“
Micha Lescot, “Forever Young”
Pio Marmai, “Rise”
Roschdy Zem, “The Innocent”

Best Female Newcomer
Marion Barbeau, “Rise”
Guslagie Malanda, “Saint Omer”
Rebecca Marder, “A Radiant Girl”
Nadia Tereszkiewicz, “Forever Young”
Mallory Wanecque, “The Worst Ones”

Best Male Newcomer

Bastien Bouillon, “The Night Of The 12^th“
Stefan Crepon, “Peter Von Kant”
Dimitri Dore, Bruno Reidal, “Confessions Of A Murderer”
Paul Kircher, “Winter Boy”
Aliocha Reinert, “Softie”

Best Original Screenplay

Eric Gravel, “Full Time”
Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Noemie Lvovsky, Agnes de Sacy, “Forever Young”

Cedric Klapisch, Santiago Amigorena, “Rise”
Louis Garrel, Tanguy Viel, Naïla Guiguet, “The Innocent”
Alice Diop, Amrita David, Marie Ndiaye, “Saint Omer”

Best Adapted Screenplay
Michel Hazanavicius, “Final Cut”
Thierry de Peretti, Jeanne Aptekman, “Undercover”
Gilles Marchand, Dominik Moll, “The Night Of The 12th”

Best Original Score
Irene Dresel, “Full Time”
Alexandre Desplat, “Final Cut”
Gregoire Hetzel, “The Innocent”
Olivier Marguerit, “The Night Of The 12^th“
Marc Verdaguer, Joe Robinson, “Pacifiction”
Anton Sanko, “The Passengers Of The Night”

Best Sound
Cyril Moisson, Nicolas Moreau, Cyril Holtz, “Rise”
Laurent Benaim, Alexis Meynet, Olivier Guillaume, “The Innocent”
Cedric Deloche, Alexis Place, Gwennole Le borgne, Marc Doisne, “November”
François Maurel, Olivier Mortier, Luc Thomas, “The Night Of The 12^th“
Jordi Ribas, Benjamin Laurent, Bruno Tarriere, “Pacification”

Best Cinematography:
Julien Poupard, “Forever Young”
Alexis Kavyrchine, “Rise”
Patrick Ghiringhelli, “The Night Of The 12^th“
Artur, “Pacifiction”
Claire Mathon, “Saint Omer”

Best editing:
Mathilde van de Moortel, Full Time
Anne-Sophie Bion, Rise
Pierre Deschamps, The Innocent
Laure Gardette, Novembre
Laurent Rouan, The Night Of The 12th

Best Costume Design:
Caroline de Vivaise, “Forever Young”
Pierre-Jean Larroque, “The Colours Of Fire”
Emmanuelle Youchnovski, “Waiting For Bojangles”
Corinne Bruand, “The Innocent”
Praxedes de Vilallonga, “Pacification”
Gigi Lepage, “Simone – Journey Of The Century”

Best Editing:
Mathilde van de Moortel, “Full Time”
Anne-Sophie Bion, “Rise”
Pierre Deschamps, “The Innocent”
Laure Gardette, “Novembre”
Laurent Rouan, “The Night Of The 12th”

Best Set Design:
Emmanuelle Duplay, “Forever Young”
Sebastian Birchler, “The Colours Of Fire”
Michel Barthelemy, “The Night Of The 12^th“
Sebastian Vogler, Pacifiction
Christian Marti, Simone – The Voyage Of The Century

Best Visual Effects:
Guillaume Marien, The Five Devils
Sebastien Rame, Smoking Causes Coughing,
Laurens Ehrmann, Notre Dame On Fire
Mikael Tang Uy, November
Marco del Bianco, Pacifiction

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