After the announcement of the list of Oscar nominees across the Atlantic, the French list of César nominees also gives pride of place to directors. In less than 24 hours, we have a feeling of repetition.
This year, no female filmmaker is present among the five contenders for the César for best director. And only one director is among the five nominated in the “best film” category: Valeria Bruni-Tesdeschi.
The chances of his almond trees are also partly weighed down by the indictments of actor Sofiane Bennacer, accused of rape and violence against ex-spouses and removed from the list of contenders for the best male hope. There is also no female director in the nominees for best foreign film. On the other hand, they are four in the list of the first films nominated for the Césars: Charlotte Le Bon (Falcon Lake)Lise Akoka and Romane Gueret (The worst) an Alice Diop (Saint-Omer). In this category, women are much more numerous: they are 55% of directors for the first films in 2021, against 20% on average for all French films. The fact remains that the case of the total absence of female directors nominated for the Césars is rare. According to journalist Brigitte Baronnet (AlloCiné) “ you have to go back to 2014 to find a best 100% male achievement category at the Césars ».
Forgotten this year Alice Winocour and Rebecca Zlotowski, whose two films have in common the actress Virginie Efira, named for her magnificent role in See Paris again. Also forgotten are Blandine Lenoir, Claire Simon and Mia Hansen Love who each had a beautiful film released this year, either Annie Anger, You only want me et A nice morning. The parity of Caesar voters is however much better than in the United States. Out of 4,363 members, there are 59.5% men and 40.5% women.
The two big winners of the first stage of the César are therefore the directors Dominik Moll (10 nominations for The Night of 12) and Louis Garrel (11 nominations for L’innocent). We had already said in these columns all the good that we thought of The Night of 12, denunciation of ordinary male violence through an unsolved investigation into a feminicide. A feminist film from a director who cannot be accused of opportunism. It’s already that. The ceremony will take place on February 24, the full list of nominations is here. And if you want to promote female directors, vote for the Alice Guy prize, it’s open until January 31!
