02/03/2009

Belgian actresses had a great night at this year’s Cesar Awards, above all Yolande Moreau, who picked up Best Actress for her role in Séraphine [+see also:
trailer
film profile], outshining Kristin Scott Thomas and Sylvie Testud. Moreau previously won the statuette in 2004 for her performance in When the Sea Rises, and joins Cécile de France on the list of Belgian actresses who are two-time Cesar award-winners.

Séraphine – co-produced by Belgium’s Climax Films – took the Cesars by storm, unexpectedly sweeping up the awards for Best Film and Best Original Screenplay, among others.

Meanwhile, Déborah François won Best Female Newcomer for her role in The First Day of the Rest of Your Life [+see also:
trailer
film profile]. Having so far enjoyed a quietly successful career, the young actress – who was nominated in 2007 for The Page Turner [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Denis Dercourt
interview: Michel Saint-Jean
film profile] and in 2006 for The Child [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Luc & Jean-Pierre Dardenne
film profile] – disproves the saying "never two without three", which previously held true for other young Belgian actresses, including Emilie Dequenne and Marie Gillain (who were thrice nominated and went home empty-handed every time).

Since the early 1990s, Belgian actresses have been nominated 14 times at the Cesar Awards (including Natacha Régnier, who won Best Female Newcomer in 1999 for The Dreamlife of Angels).

Another Belgian nomination went rather unnoticed: that of Laurent Capelluto for Best Male Newcomer for Arnaud Desplechin’s A Christmas Tale [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]. Like fellow Belgian actors Morgan Marinne and Jérémie Rénier in 2004 and 2005, Capelluto did not walk away with the prize.

Belgian actors have not been as successful at the Cesar Awards as their female counterparts. Despite the equally rich pool of talent, there have been very few trophies.

(Translated from French)