César film prices: “Emilia Pérez” clears out despite controversial César prices

The controversy around “Emilia Pérez” did not slow down the triumphal march of the musical drama at the César film prices. The work of director Jacques Audiard went home with seven prizes, including the best film, the best director and the best adaptation. The Spanish -speaking film is about the boss of a Mexican drug cartel that compensates for his gender to woman.

Audihard steps on the stage, Gascón goes away empty -handed

In the end there was a lot of vertebrae for the film. In old, meanwhile deleted posts, leading actress Karla Sofía Gascón had expressed itself on the portal X Islam -hostile and racist. Her contributions also contained malignant criticism of colleagues in the industry.

After the contributions had triggered a wave of outrage and horror, Gascón apologized for it. Audiard then distanced herself from his protagonist and said that her “hateful” statements were unused.

At the Césars, Audiard was the only one from the film team to step onto the stage. The 52-year-old Gascón was nominated and present in the category of the best actress and was also present, but went away empty-handed. In his speech, Audiard thanked his actresses without naming them. He liked to work with them.

Use of AI in “Emilia Pérez” was also criticized

At the industry highlight of the year, the Oscar ceremony on Monday night, “Emilia Pérez” goes into the race with 13 nominations – among other things in the categories of the best film and the best international film. With Gascón, a trans woman was nominated for the first time in Hollywood’s history as the best leading actress.

The film was initially the absolute favorite of this year’s Academy Awards and also has the most nominations. No strip produced outside the USA had previously received as many Oscar nominations as “Emilia Pérez”.

Then the scandal around Gascón came. Criticism recently triggered the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the film. The sound engineer Cyril Holtz had already told in an interview in May that the singing was subsequently optimized by leading actress Gascón using AI. Her singing was mixed with that of French pop singer Camille. Camille also wrote to film music.

Julia Roberts receives Ehren-César

The César for the best foreign film went to the British production “The Zone of Interest” by Jonathan Glazer. The drama focuses on the life of Rudolf Höß, the commander of the Auschwitz concentration camp, and his family. In the leading roles, Christian Friedel and Sandra Hüller, who won the César trophy as the best actress in 2024 for their performance in the judicial drama “Anatomy of a case”.

The French-Greek director Costa-Gavras (“Amen”) and Hollywood star Julia Roberts each received an honorary césar. The 57-year-old personally accepted the award under minute applause. Today her life is a dream, said Roberts in her speech and thanked all those who helped her.

President of the 50th César ceremony in Paris was canvas star Catherine Deneuve. The award has been awarded since 1976.