45th Cesar Awards: ‘Les Misérables wins Best Film; convicted sexual assaulter wins Best Director

Les Misérables, the debut film from Ladj Ly, is the Best Film winner at this year’s Cesar Awards. The film also picked up wins for Male Newcomer (Alexis Manenti) Public Cesar (Audience Award).

Amidst tremendous scrutiny and controversy, the 2020 Cesar Awards awarded Roman Polanski Best Director for An Officer and a Spy (J’accuse). Polanski has been a fugitive from U.S. justice since 1978 for the statutory rape of a 13-year-old girl. He was initially charged with rape but accepted a plea bargain and pled guilty to the lesser offense of unlawful sex with a minor. The 87-year old director backed out of attending the awards show, fearing a a “public lynching” by feminist protestors if he went. Protesters did indeed disrupt the ceremony, carrying signs of other French directors accused of rape and/or sexual misconduct including Polanski and Luc Besson but were broken up by the police. When Polanski was announced as the winner multiple nominees and attendees – including Portrait of a Lady on Fire‘s Céline Sciamma and Adèle Haenel – got up and left. This was Polanski’s 5th Cesar win for Director. He also won the Adapted Screenplay award, which he shared with Robert Harris. An Officer and a Spy led the nominations with 12. The wins come just days after the conviction of Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein for rape and sexual assault.

Anaïs Demoustier (Alice and the Mayor) was a surprise winner in Best Actress, upsetting both Portrait of a Lady actresses Noémie Merlant and Adele Haenel as well as Eva Green for Proxima. Portrait of a Lady on Fire came in with 10 nominations but walked away with a single win: Best Cinematography for Claire Mathon.

Jérémy Clapin’s Academy Award-nominated I Lost My Body won a pair of awards; Original Score and Animated Film.

Parasite ended its awards with one more win; the Cesar for Foreign Film.

Here is the full list of winners.

Best Film

“La Belle Époque,” Nicolas Bedos
“By The Grace of God,” François Ozon
“The Specials,” Eric Toledano, Olivier Nakache
“An Officer And A Spy,” Roman Polanski
WINNER – “Les Misérables,” Ladj Ly
“Portrait Of A Lady On Fire,” Céline Sciamma
“Oh Mercy,” Arnaud Desplechin

Best Director

François Ozon, “By The Grace of God”
Eric Toledano, Olivier Nakache, “The Specials”
WINNER – Roman Polanski, “An Officer And A Spy”
Ladj Ly, “Les Misérables”
Céline Sciamma, “Portrait Of A Lady On Fire”
Arnaud Desplechin, “Oh Mercy”

Best Actress

WINNER – Anais Demoustier, “Alice and The Mayor”
Eva Green, “Proxima”
Adèle Haenel, “Portrait Of A Lady On Fire”
Chiara Mastroianni, “Chambre 212”
Noémie Merlant, “Portrait Of A Lady On Fire”
Doria Tillier, “La Belle Époque”
Karin Viard, “The Perfect Nanny”

Best Actor

Daniel Auteuil, “La Belle Époque”
Damien Bonnard, “Les Misérables”
Vincent Cassel, “The Specials”
Jean Dujardin, “An Officer and a Spy”
Reda Kateb, “The Specials”
Melvil Poupaud, “By The Grace of God”
WINNER – Roschdy Zem, “Oh Mercy”

Best Foreign Film

“Pain and Glory,” Pedro Almodovar
“The Young Ahmed,” Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne
“Joker,” Todd Phillips
“Lola vers la mer,” Laurent Micheli
“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” Quentin Tarantino
WINNER – “Parasite,” Bong Joon-Ho
“The Traitor,” Marco Bellocchio

Best Documentary

“68, mon père et les clous,” Samuel Bigiaoui
“La cordillere des songes,” Patricio Guzman
“Lourdes,” Thierry Demaizière, Alain Teurlai
WINNER – “M,” Yolande Zauberman
“Wonder Boy Olivier Rousteing, ne sous X,” Anissa Bonnefont

Best First Film

“Atlantics,” Mati Diop
“Nom de la terre, Edouard Bergeon
“Wolf’s Call,” Antonin Baudry
“Les Misérables,” Ladj Ly
WINNER – “Papicha,” Mounia Meddour

Best Original Screenplay

WINNER – Nicolas Bedos, “La Belle Époque”
François Ozon, “By The Grace of God”
Eric Toledano, Olivier Nakache, “The Specials”
Ladj Ly, Giordano Gederlini, Alexis Manenti, “Les Misérables”
Céline Sciamma, “Portrait Of A Lady On Fire”

Best Adapted Screenplay

Costa-Gavras, “Adults in the Room”
WINNER – Roman Polanski, Robert Harris, “An Officer and a Spy”
Jérémy Clapin, Guillaume Laurent, “I Lost My Body”
Arnaud Desplechin, Lea Mysius, “Oh Mercy”
Dominik Moll, Gilles Marchand, “Seuls les bêtes”

Best Supporting Actress

WINNER – Fanny Ardant, “La Belle Époque”
Josiane Balasko, “By The Grace of God”
Laure Calamy, “Seules les Bêtes”
Sara Forestier, “Oh Mercy”
Hélène Vincent, “The Specials”

Best Supporting Actor

WINNER – Swann Arlaud, “By The Grace of God”
Grégory Gadebois, “An Officer and a Spy”
Louis Garrel, “An Officer and a Spy”
Benjamin Lavernhe, “Mon Inconnue”
Denis Ménochet, “By The Grace of God’

Best Female Newcomer

Luàna Bajrami, “Portrait of a Young Lady on Fire”
Céleste Brunnquell, “Les Éblouis”
WINNER – Lyna Khoudri, “Papicha”
Nina Meurisse, “Camille”
Mama Sané, “Atlantics”

Best Male Newcomer

Anthony Bajon, “Au Nom de la Terre”
Benjamin Lesieur, “The Specials”
WINNER – Alexis Manenti, “Les Misérables”
Liam Pierron, “La Vie Scolaire”
Djebril Zonga, “Les Misérables”

Best Animated Feature

“La Fameuse Invasion des Ours en Sicile,” Lorenzo Mattotti
“Les Hirondelles de Kaboul,” Zabou Breitman
WINNER – “I Lost My Body,” Jérémy Clapin

Best Editing

Anna Danché, Florent Vassault, “La Belle Époque”
Laure Gardette, “By The Grace of God”
Dorian Rigal-Ansous, “The Specials”
Hervé de Luze, “An Officer and a Spy”
Flora Volpeliere, “Les Misérables”

Best Cinematography

Nicolas Bolduc, “La Belle Époque”
Pawel Edelman, “An Officer and a Spy”
Julien Poupard, “Les Misérables”
WINNER – Claire Mathon, “Portrait of a Lady on Fire”
Irina Lubtchansky “Oh Mercy”

Best Costumes

Emmanuelle Youchnovski, “La Belle Époque”
Thierry Delettre, “Edmond”
WINNER – Pascaline Chavanne, “An Officer and a Spy”
Alexandra Charles,  “Jeanne”
Dorothée Guiraud, “Portrait of a Lady on Fire”

Best Production Design

WINNER – Stéphane Rosenbaum, – “La Belle Époque”
Benoît Barouh, “The Song of the Wolf”
Franck Schwarz, “Edmond”
Jean Rabasse,  “An Officer and a Spy”
Thomas Grézaud,  “Portrait of a Lady on Fire”

Best Original Score

Fatima Al Qadiri, “Atlantique”
Alexandre Desplat, “An Officer and a Spy”
WINNER – Dan Lévy, “I Lost My Body”
Marco Casanova and Kim Chapiron, “Les Misérables”
Grégoire Hetzel, “Roubaix, a Light”

Best Sound

Rémi Daru, Séverin Favriau, Jean-Paul Hurier, “La Belle Époque”
WINNER – Nicolas Cantin, Thomas Desjonquères, Raphaël Mouterde, Olivier Goinard, Randy Thom, “The Song of the Wolf”
Lucian Balibar, Aymeric Devoldère, Cyril Holtz, Niels Barletta, “An Officer and a Spy”
Arnaud Lavaleix, Jérôme Gonthier, Marco Casanova,“Les Misérables”
Julien Sicart, Valérie Deloof, Daniel Sobrino, “Portrait of a Lady on Fire”

• Author
• Recent Posts

Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.

Latest posts by Erik Anderson (see all)

• 2025 Golden Globe Winner Predictions – Motion Picture - December 30, 2024
• 2024 UK Film Critics Association (UKFCA) Winners: ‘Dune: Part Two’ is Film of the Year - December 30, 2024
• 2024 North Texas Film Critics Association (NTFCA) Winners: ‘Anora’ is Best Picture - December 30, 2024