Cesar Winners: "Les Misérables" is tops... but now we're curious about "La Belle Epoque"

Yes yes, we were supposed to be taking the weekend off. But we forgot about the Césars held yeseterday in France. So...

Cast & Crew of "Les Miserables" at the Cesars

While Roman Polanski's "J'Accuse!" led the César nominations in the end it lost "Best Film" to France's Oscar nominated Les Misérables. Both films won multiple prizes. Curiously considering two prizes for Polanski himself, two films which center on the sexual abuse of kids (By the Grace of God and "M") also won Césars. The dramedy La Belle Epoque, starring longtime gallic icons Daniel Auteuil and Fanny Ardant, also made a strong showing with 3 wins. A complete list of winners, some stats, and the trailer to La Belle Epoque are after the jump...

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"An Officer and a Spy" and "Les Miserables" battle it out for the César

by Nathaniel R

France's Oscar parallel competition, the Césars, have finally announced their nominations for the film year. Roman Polanski's adaptation of Robert Harris's novel An Officer and a Spy leads the nominations. It's based on the Dreyfus affair and Emile Zola's "J'Accuse!" letter, both of which are also the topic of one of Oscar's earliest Best Picture winners The Life of Emile Zola (1937).  The drama leads the Césars with 12 nominations while the Oscar-nominated Les Miserables and the riveting queer romantic drama Portrait of a Lady on Fire were right behind with 10 nominations each. After the jump all the nominations and a few notes...

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Venice is a "Joker"

by Nathaniel R

Tod & Joaquin celebrated for JOKER

Film festivals are like cocoons in there way and sometimes news happening outside of that bubble takes a moment to pierce through. This was not true about the Venice awards (though our delayed share suggests it was so) which seemed tailor-made as a provocation. The Golden Lion went to the Batman spinoff by way of Scorsese 70s, Joker and if that weren't controversial enough Roman Polanski was the runner up...

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