César Awards: ‘The Animal Kingdom’ leads nominations for the French Oscars

César Awards: ‘The Animal Kingdom’ leads nominations for the French Oscars - Copyright Studiocanal, Le Pacte

Published on 24/01/2024 - 11:52

Thomas Cailley’s ‘The Animal Kingdom' and Justine Triet’s Oscar-nominated ‘Anatomy of a Fall’ lead the way. Here is the lowdown on this year's César nominations.

After yesterday’s announcement of the Oscar nominations, it’s now time for France’s top cinema award, the Césars, to unveil their nominees.

This year, Thomas Cailley’s fantasy dystopia / father-and-son drama Le Règne animal (The Animal Kingdom) has topped the nominations with 12 nods, including Best Film, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay.

Set in a world hit by a wave of mutations that are gradually transforming some humans into animals, the film follows François (Romain Duris) and his quest to save his wife Julia (Adèle Exarchopoulos), who is affected by the mysterious condition. As some of the creatures disappear into a nearby forest, he embarks with their teenage son Émile (Paul Kircher) on a life-changing quest.

Le Règne animal is director Thomas Cailley's second feature film, after his award-winning debut Les Combattants (Love at First Fight) in 2014, and he recently won the Lumière Award (France's Golden Globes equivalent) for Best Director.

Scroll down for the list of nominees.

Justine Triet’s Oscar frontrunner Anatomie d’une chute (Anatomy Of A Fall), which scored five nominations yesterday including Best Film and Best Director, came in second with 11 César nominations. It is expected to pick up a fair few statuettes at next month’s ceremony, and Sandra Hüller stands as a favourite in the acting category, after gaining some steady momentum during the US awards season.

Read our interview with Sandra Hüller, who stars in Anatomy of a Fall and the also Oscar nominated The Zone of Interest.

Other notable César noms include nine nods for Jeanne Herry’s Je verrai toujours vos visages (All Your Faces), and Le procès Goldman (The Goldman Case), which nabbed eight.

It is also worth mentioning that four out of the five nominees for Best Supporting Actress are performers in Je verrai toujours vos visages - Leila Bekhti, Elodie Bouchez, Adèle Exarchopoulos and Miou Miou - which has got to be a record.

Elsewhere, Best Debut Film this year includes Bernadette, Chien de la casse, Le Ravissement, Vermines, and one of our favourites, Vincent doit mourir (Vincent Must Die) - which made our list for the Best Movies of 2023.

Read our interview with Vincent Must Die director Stéphan Castang, who discussed his love story set in a violent world.

Best Foreign Film this year has selected Marco Bellocchio’s Rapito (Kidnapped) (Italy), Aki Kaurismäki’s Kuolleet lehdet (Fallen Leaves) (Finland), Wim Wenders’ Perfect Days (Japan), Monia Chokri’s The Nature of Love (Simple comme Sylvain) (Canada), and of course, Christopher Nolan’s Oscar frontrunner Oppenheimer (US).

Read our interview with Wim Wenders, who discusses Perfect Days and his 2023 Lumière Award.

Also of note is a statement released by the Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma, who issued a reminder of its process for considering who should be nominated for a César in the event of legal proceedings.

Last year, against the backdrop of the indictment for "rape and violence against a spouse" of Valéria Bruni Tedeschi's actor Sofiane Bennacer in the film Les Amandiers, a new mechanism was put in place to ensure that people "implicated by the courts for acts of violence" would not be honoured and would be automatically excluded from the ceremony. This initiative has been renewed, specifying that it covers the duration of the criminal proceedings or conviction.

The 49th César ceremony will be held on 23 February and will pay tribute to Agnès Jaoui and Christopher Nolan, who will each receive an honorary César.

Here is the list of main César nominees:

Best Film