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Moll scoops the pick of the Césars

Brad Pitt makes surprise appearance for Fincher honour

by Richard Mowe

Hollywood star power enlivens the Césars in Paris last night Photo: Academie des Césars

Director Dominik Moll had to wait 22 years to bag his second César, as Best Director for The Night Of The 12th, a thriller which delves into issues of gender and violence. It was a major winner in last night’s César awards, France’s answer to the Oscars, also winning the award for Best Film. Bouli Lanners and Bastien Bouillon, as two cops trying to solve a gruesome murder, received actor nods as Best Supporting Actor and Best Male Newcomer respectively.

Written in tandem with his frequent collaborator Gilles Marchand the pair were also rewarded with best adapted screenplay from the novel by Pauline Guéna. The last time Moll received the Best Director César was in 2001 for another thriller, Harry, He's Here To Help (Harry, Un Ami Qui Vous Veut Du Bien).

Happy nights: Virginie Emir Efira named Best Actress in the Césars Photo: Academie des Césars

Moll revealed in a recent interview with me that he had moved the action from the Paris suburbs to the mountains around Grenoble. "A lot of my films are set in the mountains because they are photogenic and beautiful, but they can also be dark, oppressive and threatening. If you are down in the valley they stop you seeing further - and in a way that was an allegory for the police position: they couldn’t see any further or find a solution. They believed there was no way out.”

The Night Of The 12th trounced Louis Garrel’s romantic heist comedy The Innocent, starring Roschdy Zen and Noemie Merliant, who was named Best Supporting Actress. The film had received 11 nominations, one more than Moll’s thriller. Garrel and his co writers Tanguy Viel, Naïla Guiguet, were lauded with a Best Original Screenplay award.

The much admired Saint Omer by Alice Diop received Best First Film accolade in a César selection that was short on women directors. A female composer, Irene Diesel however, for the first time took an award for Best Original Score for Full Time.

The biggest reception of a marathon ceremony was given to Brad Pitt, a surprise guest who was called on to eulogise over Fight Club director David Fincher who received an honorary César to a standing ovation. They had worked together on Se7en, Fight Club, and The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button. It took Pitt’s Hollywood intervention to breathe much needed life into an evening that overflowed with multiple presenters, including Tahar Rahim.

Benoît Magimel full of emotion at his second Best Actor award in two years Photo: Academie des Césars

The main acting awards went to Virginie Eifra for Alice Winocour’s Paris Memories and Benoît Magimel for Albert Serra’s Pacifiction in which he plays s a morally-challenged Haut-Commissaire on an island in French Polynesia. Magimel also won best actor last year for Emmanuelle Bercot’s Peaceful (De Son Vivant).

Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s Spanish thriller The Beasts was named Best Foreign Film, continuing its run of awards success.

Last night’s 48th ceremony which took place at the Olympia music hall, was dedicated to the people of Ukraine with Juliette Binoche delivering a moving introduction to underline French solidarity. Homages were paid to the late Jean-Luc Godard and Jacques Perrin.

2023 César Awards winners:

Best Film