César Award for Best Actress
| César Award for Best Actress César de la meilleure actrice | |
|---|---|
| Description | Best Actress in a Leading Role |
| Country | France |
| Presented by | Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma |
| Currently held by | Bérénice Bejo The Artist (2012) |
| Website | http://www.academie-cinema.org/ |
The César Award for Best Actress (French: César de la meilleure actrice) is one of the César Awards, presented annually by the Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma to recognize the outstanding performance in a leading role of an actress who has worked within the French film industry during the year preceding the ceremony. Nominees and winner are selected via a run-off voting by all the members of the Académie.
History
Superlatives
| Superlative | Best Actress | Best Supporting Actress | Overall (including Most Promising Actress) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Actress with most awards | Isabelle Adjani | 5 | Dominique Blanc | 3 | Isabelle Adjani | 5 |
| Actress with most nominations | Isabelle Huppert | 12 | Dominique Blanc Noémie Lvovsky |
5 | Isabelle Huppert | 13 |
| Actress with most nominations without ever winning |
Catherine Frot Emmanuelle Béart |
5 | Noémie Lvovsky | 5 | Noémie Lvovsky Marie Trintignant |
5 |
| Film with most nominations | Too Beautiful for You The Ceremony 8 Women Feelings Polisse |
2 | The Crisis | 3 | Venus Beauty Institute 8 Women Polisse |
4 |
| Oldest winner | Jeanne Moreau | 64 | Suzanne Flon | 72 | Suzanne Flon | 72 |
| Oldest nominee | Tsilla Chelton | 71 | Denise Grey | 86 | Denise Grey | 86 |
| Youngest winner | Sandrine Bonnaire | 18 | Emmanuelle Béart | 23 | Charlotte Gainsbourg | 14 |
| Youngest nominee | Charlotte Gainsbourg | 17 | Christine Pascal | 22 | Charlotte Gainsbourg | 14 |
As of 2012, 64 actresses have been nominated in the category, with a total of 28 different winners. The average age at first nomination is 34 and the average age of winners at fisrt win is 36.
With five wins (1982, 1984, 1989, 1995, 2010), Isabelle Adjani has more César Award for Best Actress than any other woman. Five actresses have won two Best Actress César: Romy Schneider (1976, 1979), Sabine Azéma (1985, 1987), Catherine Deneuve (1981, 1993), Nathalie Baye (1983, 2006) and Yolande Moreau (2005, 2009).
Adjani also holds the record of most César Award in an acting category and of most César in a single artistic category. She is followed with 4 César by Dominique Blanc (1 Best Actress César and 3 Best Supporting Actress César) and Nathalie Baye (2 Best Actress César and 2 Best Supporting Actress César).
Isabelle Huppert holds the record of most nominations with 12, followed by Catherine Deneuve and Miou-Miou with 10 nominations each. Huppert has been nominated a total of 13 times, which makes her the overall most-nominated female performer.
Cécile de France is the only actress to have been nominated for two different roles the same year, in 2007 for Avenue Montaigne and for When I Was a Singer. The Académie has since modified the nomination rules to ensure that no one could receive more than one individual nomination by category.
Six women have won both the César Award for Best Actress and the César Award for Best Supporting Actress:
- Nathalie Baye (Best Supporting Actress in 1981 and 1982, Best Actress in 1983 and 2006)
- Annie Girardot (Best Actress in 1977, Best Supporting Actress in 1996 and 2002),
- Dominique Blanc (Best Supporting Actress in 1991, 1993 and 1999, Best Actress in 2001),
- Karin Viard (Best Actress in 2000, Best Supporting Actress in 2003),
- Marion Cotillard (Best Supporting Actress in 2005, Best Actress in 2008)
- Emmanuelle Devos (Best Actress in 2002, Best Supporting Actress in 2010).
Nathalie Baye is the only actress with multiple wins in both categories. She is also the only performer to have won an acting César in three consecutive years, in 1981, 1982 and 1983.
Three films have received both accolades: One Deadly Summer in 1984 (Best Actress to Isabelle Adjani, Best Supporting Actress to Suzanne Flon), Indochine in 1993 (Best Actress to Catherine Deneuve, Best Supporting Actress to Dominique Blanc) and Queen Margot in 1995 (Best Actress to Isabelle Adjani, Best Supporting Actress to Virna Lisi).
Four women have won the César Award for Best Actress after previously winning the César Award for Most Promising Actress:
- Sandrine Bonnaire (Most Promising Actress in 1984, Best Actress in 1986),
- Elodie Bouchez (Most Promising Actress in 1995, Best Actress in 1999),
- Sylvie Testud (Most Promising Actress in 2001, Best Actress in 2004),
- Sara Forestier ((Most Promising Actress in 2004, Best Actress in 2011).
Only one film has received both accolades: The Dreamlife of Angels in 1999 (Best Actress to Elodie Bouchez, Most Promising Actress to Natacha Régnier).
Nine women have received nominations in the three competitive acting categories: Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress and Most Promising Actress. They are Emmanuelle Béart, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Dominique Blanc, Anne Brochet, Karin Viard, Sandrine Kiberlain, Emmanuelle Devos, Marion Cotillard and Sylvie Testud. So far, no actress has achieved to win the three awards.
To date, the longest living winner is Jeanne Moreau, aged 84, and the most short-lived is Romy Schneider, who died at 43. The earliest winner who is still alive is Miou-Miou (Memoirs of a French Whore, 1980).
Posthumous nominations
There have been only two posthumous nominations for any acting César and both occurred in the Best Actress category. Romy Schneider was nominated in 1983 for The Passerby, seven months after her death possibly by suicide. Pascale Ogier died of a drug overdose at 25, three months before receiving a nomination for Full Moon in Paris in 1985.
Romy Schneider is the only actress to have been presented a posthumous Honorary César, in 2008. Actor Alain Delon presented the César, as the date also corresponded to the fourty years of the iconic film La Piscine in which they starred together. During the standing ovation, he turned towards a giant portrait of the actress and declared in German that she was the love of his life.
International presence
As the César Awards are centered on the French Cinema, the majority of recipients are French and performed in French language. The only non-French winner of the Best Actress César is Belgian actress Yolande Moreau (2005, 2009). Isabelle Adjani's mother is German and Marina Hands's father is British, but they both only hold French citizenship. Romy Schneider was born German and Bérénice Bejo Argentine, but both had become French naturalized citizens by the time of their wins.
International actresses who have received nomination are:
- Belgium: Cécile de France, Marie Gillain, Yolande Moreau,
- Germany: Nastassja Kinski,
- Hong Kong: Maggie Cheung,
- Switzerland: Irène Jacob,
- United Kingdom: Jane Birkin, Charlotte Rampling, Tilda Swinton, Kristin Scott Thomas (she holds dual British-French citizenship),
- United States: Julia Migenes.
The Best Actress César has been awarded twice for a foreign-language performance: to Isabelle Adjani for her English-language performance in Possession (1982) and to Sylvie Testud for her Japanese-language performance in Fear and Trembing (2004). In addition, Bérénice Bejo is the only performer in the history of the César to receive an award for a silent role, in The Artist (2012).
Other awards
Three actresses have received nominations for both the César Award for Best Actress and the Academy Award for Best Actress:
- Isabelle Adjani twice: first in 1976 for The Story of Adèle H. (lost both awards), then in 1989 for Camille Claudel (won the César but lost the Oscar);
- Catherine Deneuve in 1993 for Indochine (won the César but lost the Oscar);
- Marion Cotillard in 2008 for La Vie en rose (won both awards).
Cotillard is the only woman to have won a Best Actress César and Oscar for the same performance. The other actress to have won both awards is Simone Signoret but she did it with two different films.
Bérénice Bejo is the only actress to have been nominated for the César Award for Best Actress and the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, in 2008 for The Artist; she won the César but lost the Oscar. Juliette Binoche is the only actress to have won both awards, but for two different performances.
Two actresses have won both the Best Actress César and the Best Actress Award of the Cannes Film Festival for the same performance: Isabelle Adjani for Possession and Elodie Bouchez for The Dreamlife of Angels. In addition, Simone Signoret, Jeanne Moreau, Isabelle Huppert and Juliette Binoche have won both awards as well, but not for the same role.
Winners and nominees
Following the AATC's practice, the films below are listed by year of ceremony, which corresponds to the year following the film's year of release. For example, the César for Best Actress of 2010 was awarded on February 27, 2010 for a performance in a film released between January 1, 2009 and December 31, 2009.
Actresses are selected via a two-round vote: first round to choose the nominees, second round to designate the winner. All the members of the Académie, without regard to their branch, are eligible to vote on both rounds. The number of nominees, initially set to four, was expanded to five in 1984 and then to seven in 2012.
Winners are listed first in bold, followed by the other nominees.
1970s
| Year | Winner and Nominees | Film | Original Title | Role(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 | ||||
| Romy Schneider | That Most Important Thing: Love | L'Important c'est d'aimer | Nadine Chevalier | |
| Isabelle Adjani | The Story of Adele H. | L'Histoire d'Adèle H. | Adèle Hugo | |
| Catherine Deneuve | Lovers Like Us | Le Sauvage | Nelly Ratabou | |
| Delphine Seyrig | India Song | Anne-Marie Stretter | ||
| 1977 | ||||
| Annie Girardot | Docteur Françoise Gailland | Françoise Gailland | ||
| Isabelle Adjani | Barocco | Laure | ||
| Miou-Miou | F comme Fairbanks | Marie | ||
| Romy Schneider | Une Femme à sa fenêtre | Margot Santorini | ||
| 1978 | ||||
| Simone Signoret | Madame Rosa | La Vie devant soi | Madame Rosa | |
| Brigitte Fossey | Les Enfants du placard | Juliette | ||
| Isabelle Huppert | The Lacemaker | La Dentellière | Pomme | |
| Miou-Miou | This Sweet Sickness | Dites-lui que je l'aime | Juliette | |
| Delphine Seyrig | Repérages | Julie | ||
| 1979 | ||||
| Romy Schneider | A Simple Story | Une Histoire simple | Marie | |
| Anouk Aimée | Mon premier amour | Jane Romain | ||
| Annie Girardot | The Key Is in the Door | La Clé sur la porte | Marie Arnault | |
| Isabelle Huppert | Violette Nozière | Violette Nozière | ||
1980s
1990s
2000s
2010s
| Year | Winner and Nominees | Film | Original Title | Role(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | ||||
| Isabelle Adjani | Skirt Day | La Journée de la jupe | Sonia Bergerac | |
| Dominique Blanc | The Other One | L'Autre | Anne-Marie | |
| Sandrine Kiberlain | Mademoiselle Chambon | Véronique Chambon | ||
| Kristin Scott Thomas | Leaving | Partir | Suzanne | |
| Audrey Tautou | Coco Before Chanel | Coco avant Chanel | Gabrielle Chanel | |
| 2011 | ||||
| Sara Forestier | The Names of Love | Le Nom des gens | Bahia Benmahmoud | |
| Isabelle Carré | Romantics Anonymous | Les Emotifs anonymes | Angélique | |
| Catherine Deneuve | Potiche | Suzanne Pujol | ||
| Charlotte Gainsbourg | The Tree | L'Arbre | Dawn O'Neil | |
| Kristin Scott Thomas | Sarah's Key | Elle s'appelait Sarah | Julia Jarmond | |
| 2012 | ||||
| Bérénice Bejo | The Artist | Peppy Miller | ||
| Ariane Ascaride | The Snows of Kilimanjaro | Les Neiges du Kilimandjaro | Marie-Claire | |
| Leïla Bekhti | The Source | La Source des femmes | Leïla | |
| Valérie Donzelli | Declaration of War | La Guerre est déclarée | Juliette | |
| Marina Foïs | Polisse | Iris | ||
| Marie Gillain | All Our Desires | Toutes nos envies | Claire | |
| Karin Viard | Polisse | Nadine | ||
Multiple nominations
|
2 nominations
|
3 nominations
4 nominations
|
5 nominations
6 nominations
7 nominations
8 nominations
|
10 nominations
12 nominations
|
Three actresses share the record of most consecutive nominations with 3: Juliette Binoche (1992, 1993, 1994), Isabelle Huppert (2001, 2002, 2003) and Kristin Scott Thomas (2009, 2010, 2011).
Source
- Academie-cinema.org (Official site)