The 34 annual Cesar Award Nominations (France’s Oscars) have been announced and leading the list of nominees are Jean-Francois Richet’s “Mesrine” and Martin Provost’s “Seraphine.”
Both films are up for Best French Film of the year and they’ll compete against Remi Bezancon’s “The First Day of the Rest of Your Life,” Cedric Klapisch’s “Paris” and two films lauded by the North American and international press, Arnaud Desplechin’s “A Christmas Tale”with Catherine Deneuve and Mathieu Amalric and Laurent Cantet’s “The Class” which already won the coveted Palme ‘d Or at Cannes last year and is France’s Oscar contender in the Best Foreign Film category.
All the five directors of the films will compete for Best Director too.
“Mesrine,” which stars excellent French actor Vincent Cassell (the thief in “Ocean’s 12”) as one of France’s infamous 1970s public enemies, is a two-part biopic that scored ten nominations. “Seraphine” grabbed nine and “A Christmas Tale” scored eight nods. Casell also earned a Best Actor nomination. Pictures of him in the role look awesome and make us totally want to see this film when it comes Stateside (the svelte and attractive actor looks like he’s put on a lot of weight and grimed himself up for the role).
Another French film we (and many others) adored this year, Philippe Claudel’s “I’ve Loved You So Long” earned itself five nominations including best actress and best supporting actress nominations for Kristin Scott Thomas and Elsa Zyberstein respectively (at least they’re getting some awards love somewhere).
Seven foreign films are competing for France’s international category. They include Matteo Garrone’s “Gomorra” (sweet justice?) Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne’s “Lorna’s Silence,” Ari Folman’s “Waltz with Bashir,” Bouli Lanners’ “Eldorado” and four American films, James Gray’s “Two Lovers,” Paul Thomas Anderson’s “There Will Be Blood” and Sean Penn’s “Into the Wild.” Yeah, they’re a little behind in France, give ’em a break. [THR]