The Count vs the Cartel Boss: The César nominations are here.
Sunday, February 9, 2025 at 7:00PM
NATHANIEL R in César Awards, Emilia Pérez, France, French cinema, Holy Cow, Misericordia, Pierre Niney, Tahar Rahim, The Count of Monte Cristo, The Substance, Wild Diamond

by Nathaniel R

Pierre Niney as "The Count of Monte Cristo" © Pathe

Since we've always loved French cinema, we follow along with the César Awards each year. Historical adventure The Count of Monte Cristo leads the pack with an astounding 14 nominations. Curiously the second most nominated film, Beating Hearts (13 nods) a romantic drama spanning 20 years, is NOT up for Best Film. It premiered at Cannes to some negative reviews before an October theatrical release. Among the nomination leaders the Oscar-bound trans cartel musical Emilia Pérez (12 nominations) came in third.

Let's look at the fields and discuss and jot down which films we'll have to watch out for in 2025 as they make their way across the ocean...

BEST FILM

All five of the nominees premiered at Cannes where two of them (Emilia Pérez and Souleymane's Story) won prizes. We wonder if Emília Perez can still win in France. Different countries have much different reactions to scandals since racial tensions, scandal obsessiveness, tolerance for bad behavior, politics, sexual mores -- you name it -- vary considerably from country to country. 

BEST FOREIGN FILM

It's interesting that The Substance, which is viewed as such a French production here in the US, is considered Foreign at home in France though the writer/director and most of the crew are French. 

 

BEST FIRST FILM

 

BEST DIRECTOR
Statistics are from this category only

Jacques Audiard, the only previous winner nominated, is a César favourite. He's won Best Director three times (The Beat That My Heart Skipped, 2005, A Prophet, 2009, and The Sisters Brothers, 2018) and received prizes in other categories as well since he writes, directs, and produces. His other Best Director nominations were for A Self Made Hero (1997), Read My Lips (2001), Rust and Bone (2012), and Dheepan (2015). It's so odd that with so many strong films under his belt --we can highly recommend Read My Lips, A Prophet, Rust and Bone, and The Beat That My Heart Skipped -- it is the mixed results of Emilia Pérez that finally clicked with the US film industry. 

BEST ACTRESS
Acting stats are for acting categories only at the Césars


Finally an organization unwilling to play Emilia Pérez's category fraud game with its two leads. Congrats to Zoe for being the rare non-French actress to receive a César nomination. Even Demi Moore couldn't do it this year. 

The returning winners: Vincent won this category for Life is a Long Quiet River (1988); Herzi won Most Promising Actress for The Secret of the Grain (2007);. Adèle Exarchopoulous, the best known nominee stateside, won Most Promising Actress for the international hit erotic drama Blue is the Warmest Colour (2013) and then Best Supporting Actress for All Your Faces (2023).  

BEST ACTOR

Monsieur Aznavour is a biopic about the legendary French Armenian singer/songwriter Charles Aznavour.

Niney previously won for Yves Saint Laurent (2014), one of two big YSL biopics in the mid 2010s -- the other starring the late Gaspard Ulliel, and Rahim won both of his prizes (Most Promising Actor and Best Actor) for the Oscar nominated prison drama A Prophet (2009). 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Frot previously won Best Actress for Marguerite (2015) and best supporting Actress for Family Resemblances (1996). Demoustier previously won Best Actress for Alice and the Mayor (2019). Bouchez  was a rising star in 1990s US arthouses with her two early-career wins Wild Reeds (1994) and The Dreamlife of Angels (1998). The only newbie here, Suco, also writes and directs so she's not solely focused on acting work. 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Bouillon won Most Promising Actor a couple of seasons ago. Laurent Lafitte, who hasn't yet won a César, is the most familiar face in the US because he co-starred in the controversial Isabelle Huppert sensation, Elle. 

BEST FEMALE REVELATION
They used to call these categories "Most Promising" but now they're called "revelation". Wouldn't it be interesting if Oscar had such categories? Would we see, as we do with the Césars that most of the nominees go on to regular category acting nominations? Or would it be one and done?  

BEST MALE REVELATION

Felix Kysyl in MISERICORDIA

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Paul Guilhaume is also nominated in the parallel Oscar category for his work on Emilia Pérez. This is his third César nomination after Adolesents (2020), and Paris 13th District (2021).

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

BEST EDITING

BEST SOUND

BEST ORIGINAL MUSIC

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

BEST ANIMATED SHORT

Yuck! is nominated for the Oscar this year. It's cute!

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT

HONORARY CÉSAR

 

Article originally appeared on The Film Experience (http://thefilmexperience.net/).
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