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CÉSARS 2021

Bye Bye Morons wins the César for Best Film

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- Albert Dupontel’s feature film dominated the awards ceremony, scooping a total seven trophies, while Laure Calamy and Sami Bouajila were crowned best actors

Bye Bye Morons wins the César for Best Film
The team of Bye Bye Morons (in the absence of the director), notably Sidonie Dumas (Gaumont - centre), actress Virginie Efira (right) and producer Catherine Bozorgan (left), on stage at the César Awards ( © Cyprien Nicoleau of the ENS Louis Lumière School on behalf of the 2021 César Academy)

It was a highly unique César ceremony which unfolded on Friday night in Paris. Rewarding the best of French film, in a year which lost several months of activity to the health crisis and its subsequent closure of French cinemas (whose curtains have been drawn, again, since 30 October) - a fact which many of those receiving or presenting awards didn’t hesitate to denounce, blasting the government with a tide of verbal cannonballs over its current handling of national culture - the event was nonetheless allowed to unspool in person (with reduced capacity and amidst strict safety protocols).

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Somewhat symbolically, it was an intense, slapstick tragedy dripping in dark humour and casting a scathing look at the evils of modern-day society which triumphed on the night: Albert Dupontel’s Bye Bye Morons [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 scooped seven trophies, including the titles of Best Film, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay (the latter being written by the filmmaker himself). It’s a sweeping victory for a work which sits at the crossroads between arthouse and mainstream cinema, but it also reflects the potential of films whose releases were cut short as a result of health-related cinema closures, just as ticket sales were booming and, in this instance, after just nine days in cinemas in October last year, which nonetheless got the film off to a flying start in the form of 720,000 admissions (Gaumont will re-release the film as soon as cinemas re-open - a date which is still up in the air, although, for what it’s worth, there are whispers of the second half of April…). And to top off the very particular nature of this year’s César Awards, the grand champion Albert Dupontel wasn’t there to receive his trophy - not for fear of infection, but because of his long-standing refusal to take part in prize-giving ceremonies (in his opinion, art cannot be measured or compared).

The other winners, for their part, made no secret of their happiness, especially Laure Calamy and Sami Bouajila who were both named best actors for the very first time, thanks to My Donkey, My Lover and I [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 and A Son [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mehdi M Barsaoui and Sami B…
film profile
]
, respectively. Adolescentes [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
 by Sébastien Lifshitz likewise distinguished itself, scooping an impressive three awards (for Best Documentary and for editing and sound), while the remaining lucky few shared the various other trophies between them (works ranging from Josep [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Aurel
film profile
]
 to Two of Us [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Filippo Meneghetti
film profile
]
, by way of Stéphane Demoustier, Émilie Dequenne, Nicolas Marié, Fathia Youssouf, Jean-Pascal Zadi, etc., and Denmark’s Thomas Vinterberg with Drunk [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 which was named Best Foreign Film).

The full list of winners is as follows:

Best Film
Bye Bye Morons [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
- Albert Dupontel

Best Director
Albert Dupontel – Bye Bye Morons

Best Actress
Laure Calamy – My Donkey, My Lover and I [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]

Best Actor
Sami Bouajila – A Son [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mehdi M Barsaoui and Sami B…
film profile
]
(Tunisia/France/Lebanon/Qatar)

Best Documentary
Adolescentes [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
 - Sébastien Lifshitz

Best Animated Feature Film
Josep [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Aurel
film profile
]
– Aurel (France/Spain/Belgium)

Best First Film
Two of Us [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Filippo Meneghetti
film profile
]
- Filippo Meneghetti

Best Original Screenplay
Albert Dupontel – Bye Bye Morons

Best Adaptation
Stéphane Demoustier – The Girl with a Bracelet [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Stéphane Demoustier
film profile
]
(France/Belgium)

Best Supporting Actress
Émilie Dequenne – Love Affair(s) [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Emmanuel Mouret
film profile
]

Best Supporting Actor
Nicolas Marié – Bye Bye Morons

Best New Female Hope
Fathia Youssouf – Cuties [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Maïmouna Doucouré
film profile
]

Best New Male Hope
Jean-Pascal Zadi - Tout simplement noir [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]

Best Original Score
Rone – Night Ride [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Frédéric Farrucci
film profile
]

Best Sound
Yolande Decarsin, Jeanne Delplancq, Fanny Martin and Olivier Goinard - Adolescentes

Best Photography
Alexis Kavyrchine – Bye Bye Morons

Best Editing
Tina Baz - Adolescentes

Best Costume Design
Madeline Fontaine – How To Be A Good Wife

Best Set Design
Carlos Conti - Adieu les cons

Best Short Film
Qu'importe si les bêtes meurent - Sofia Alaoui

Best Animated Short
L'heure de l'ours - Agnès Patron

Best Foreign Film
Drunk [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
- Thomas Vinterberg (Denmark/Sweden/The Netherlands)

High School César
Bye Bye Morons [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
- Albert Dupontel

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(Translated from French)

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