The French Césars: a big win for "The Beat"

[Chris Knipp]

Audiard's excellent De battre mon cœur s'est arrêté achieved a virtual sweep of the Césars this year, in contrast to other areas where it was overshadowed by Michael Haneke's Caché, which was nominated but perhaps passed over because the director is Austrian? Or because Caché was well rewarded elsewhere? Romain Duris's breakthrough performance, which dominates the film, rather oddly was not rewarded with the prize though he was nominated for it, and it instead went to somebody who got the same aware three years ago. The other choices that I've seen seem good ones. Gabrielle has no US distributor nor does Regular Lovers. Russian Dolls (Les poupées russes) will be coming for sure. It's also in the Rendezvou lineup at Lincoln Center.

THE CÉSARS 2006:

Best Film
"The Beat That My Heart Skipped"

Best Director
Jacques Audiard "The Beat That My Heart Skipped"

Best Actor
Michel Bouquet "The Last Mitterrand"

Best Actress
Nathalie Baye "The Young Lieutenant"

Best original screenplay
Radu Mihaileanu, Alain-Michel Blanc "Live and Become"

Best adaptation
Jacques Audiard, Tonino Benacquista "The Beat That My Heart Skipped"

Best foreign film
"Million Dollar Baby"

Best first film
"Darwin's Nightmare"

Best cinematography
Stephane Fontaine "The Beat That My Heart Skipped"

Best supporting actor
Niels Arestrup "The Beat That My Heart Skipped"

Best supporting actress
Cecile de France "Russian Dolls"

Best male newcomer
Louis Garrel "Regular Lovers"

Best female newcomer
Linh-Dan Pham "The Beat That My Heart Skipped"

Best original score
Alexandre Desplat "The Beat That My Heart Skipped"

Best editing
Juliette Welfling "The Beat That My Heart Skipped"

Best sound
Laurent Quaglio, Gerard Lamps "The March of the Penguins"

Best set design
Olivier Radot "Gabrielle"

Best costumes
Caroline de Vivaise "Gabrielle"

Best short film
"After Shave" Hany Tamba