During the introductory speech of the Cesar ceremony, Juliette Binoche stood up and spoke. Prepared intervention or surprise reaction? This moment was really improvised and hid a real annoyance from the actress. Explanations.
Festive and peaceful ceremony, yes. But there are of course also some unforeseen events and flashes. As we relayed on Friday evening, the ceremony was interrupted once by a climate activist, causing a cut in the live broadcast.
A few minutes before, another form of interruption took place, or one could say of irruption. In the middle of an introductory speech led by Jamel Debbouze (see below), Juliette Binoche got up and spoke.
Not having a microphone, his remarks were not or barely audible (“I disagree, I disagree. We also make entries“), but suggested a form of annoyance. Planned sequence? Improvised? Why did Juliette Binoche speak?
The actress grabbed his Instagram account to explain this moment which may have surprised and required some explanation.
“I couldn’t help but get up when Jamel started to sneer about auteur films, she explains in a post. Even with all the liberties that stand-up comics can take, auteur films are fragile, difficult to make, we are lucky to be able to have a tremendous diversity of films in France thanks to the various financial aids that the world envies us. All diversity must be expressed.“
“No ! Sorry Jamel with all the respect and love I have for you, and you know it, I don’t agree to let you denigrate this cinema, nor those who take the risk of doing it, it’s too easyshe continues. Arthouse cinema brings a singular, sometimes new look, different tangents, which sometimes has difficulty finding its audience, which has fewer admissions than Asterix, but which also finds it. And it’s good like that. So no laughing. Tolerance, and a little appreciation of differences. ✨ You’re lucky I’m not Will Smith’s sister 😉 Moral of the story: we can’t say anything (even at the Caesars!? Yeah)“, she ends on a touch of humor. If the actress does not hide her annoyance on the substance of the speech, it is not however a question of anger towards Jamel.
To contextualize, Jamel was ironic during his speech on the success of cinema, and made comments echoing, for example, comments made recently by Jérôme Seydoux of Pathé, namely the priority to be given to blockbuster films.
“What’s working at the moment in the cinema? Avatar, Asterix, Top Gun. Stunts and special effects. I watched our auteur films… Not a stunt, not a special effect. That’s normal. No but seriously you want to make entries. We need to boost our scenarios, be more creative“, he launched.
Watch the full speech here:
Obviously, Jamel Debbouze did not expect Juliette Binoche to speak directly. “I did not expect this intervention“, he said to the public of the Caesars. “You add ninjas Juliette, on the life of my mother we make a misfortune“, he retorted. “You haven’t seen the movie“(Editor’s note. Ouistreham by Emmanuel Carrère, see trailer above), she then replied. “I saw the film! What’s happening to her? You wrote that to him as a text“. A sequence full of surprises therefore, which set the tone for a rhythmic ceremony.
To go further on the subject of auteur cinema within French cinema, we invite you to discover this interview with the producers of the film Saint Omer by Alice Diop. At the microphone of AlloCiné, they wanted to speak up to defend a certain French exception, allowing films like Saint Omer, winner of the César for best first film, to exist.
Find the complete winners and the summary of the 48th Cesar ceremony by following this link. The entire ceremony is available in replay on myCANAL, as well as a montage centered on the highlights.
For the record, La Nuit du 12 by Dominik Moll was the big winner of the evening with 6 statuettes won, including best film and best director.