César Awards 2006

The 2006 César Awards were the 31st edition of the biggest annual film awards in France. The ceremony took place in the Théâtre du Châtelet on February 25, 2006; hosted by Carole Bouquet and presented by Valérie Lemercier.

Summary

2006's biggest winner was The Beat That My Heart Skipped (De battre mon cœur s'est arrêté), which received 8 awards. Merry Christmas (Joyeux Noël) however, received none. The ceremony was marred by demonstrations by the intermittents (film industry workers), who lobbied for greater rights for temporary contract workers after running onto the stage before the start. The police had to evacuate the protesters, which ultimately led to a 23 minute delay to the start of the proceedings.

The awards

The nominations were announced on 10 January 2006. Winners are in bold.

Best Film

• The Beat That My Heart Skipped (De battre mon cœur s'est arrêté)
  • The Child (L'enfant)
  • Live and Become (Va, vis et deviens)
  • Merry Christmas (Joyeux Noël)
  • The Young Lieutenant (Le petit lieutenant)

Best Foreign Film

• Million Dollar Baby – Clint Eastwood
  • A History of Violence – David Cronenberg
  • The Sea Inside (Mar adentro) – Alejandro Amenabar
  • Match Point – Woody Allen
  • Walk on Water (ללכת על המים / Lalekhet Al HaMayim) – Eytan Fox

Best Actor

Title
Winner Michel Bouquet in Le Promeneur du Champ-de-Mars (The Last Mitterrand)
Patrick Chesnais in Je ne suis pas là pour être aimé (Not Here to Be Loved)
Romain Duris in De battre mon cœur s'est arrêté (The Beat That My Heart Skipped)
José Garcia in Le couperet (The Axe)
Benoît Poelvoorde in Entre ses mains (In His Hands)

Best Actress

Title
Winner Nathalie Baye in Le Petit Lieutenant
Isabelle Carré in Entre ses mains
Anne Consigny in Je ne suis pas là pour être aimé (Not Here to Be Loved)
Isabelle Huppert in Gabriel
Valérie Lemercier in Palais Royal!

Best Supporting Actor

Title
Winner Niels Arestrup in De battre mon cœur s'est arrêté (The Beat That My Heart Skipped)
Maurice Bénichou in Caché (Hidden)
Dany Boon in Joyeux Noël (Merry Christmas)
Georges Wilson in Je ne suis pas là pour être aimé (Not Here to Be Loved)
Roschdy Zem in Le Petit Lieutenant

Best Supporting Actress

Title
Winner Cécile de France in Les Poupées russes (The Russian Dolls)
Catherine Deneuve in Palais Royal!
Noémie Lvovsky in Backstage
Charlotte Rampling in Lemming
Kelly Reilly in Les Poupées russes (The Russian Dolls)

Most Promising Actor

Title
Winner Louis Garrel in Les Amants réguliers (Regular Lovers)
Walid Afkir in Caché (Hidden)
Gilles Lellouche for Ma vie en l'air
Aymen Saïdi in Saint-Jacques... La Mecque
Adrien Jolivet in Zim and Co.

Most Promising Actress

Title
Winner Linh Dan Pham in De battre mon cœur s'est arrêté (The Beat That My Heart Skipped)
Déborah François in L'Enfant
Mélanie Doutey in Il ne faut jurer de rien!
Fanny Valette in La Petite Jérusalem (Little Jerusalem)
Marina Hands in Les Âmes grises (Grey Souls)

Best Director

Title
Winner Jacques Audiard for De battre mon cœur s'est arrêté (The Beat That My Heart Skipped)
Xavier Beauvois for Le Petit Lieutenant
Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne for L'Enfant
Michael Haneke for Caché (Hidden)
Radu Mihaileanu for Va, vis et deviens (Go, See, and Become)

Best Writing - Original

Title
Winner Radu Mihaileanu and Alain-Michel Blanc for Va, vis et deviens (Go, See, and Become)
Michael Haneke for Caché (Hidden)
Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne for L'Enfant
Christian Carion for Joyeux Noël (Merry Christmas)
Xavier Beauvois, Guillaume Bréaud and Jean-Eric Troubat for Le Petit Lieutenant

Best Writing - Adaptation

Title
Winner Jacques Audiard and Tonino Benacquista for De battre mon cœur s'est arrêté (The Beat That My Heart Skipped)
Costa-Gavras and Jean-Claude Grumberg for Le Couperet (The Axe)
Anne Fontaine and Julien Boivent for Entre ses mains
Patrice Chéreau and Anne-Louise Trividic for Gabrielle
Xavier Beauvois, Guillaume Bréaud and Jean-Eric Troubat for Le Promeneur du Champ-de-Mars (The Last Mitterrand)

Best Music Written for a Film

Title
Winner Alexandre Desplat for De battre mon cœur s'est arrêté (The Beat That My Heart Skipped)
Philippe Rombi for Joyeux Noël (Merry Christmas)
Émilie Simon for La Marche de l'empereur March of the Penguins
Armand Amar for Va, vis et deviens (Go, See, and Become)

Best Cinematography

Title
Winner Stéphane Fontaine for De battre mon cœur s'est arrêté (The Beat That My Heart Skipped)
William Lubtchansky for Les Amant réguliers (Regular Lovers)
Éric Gautier for Gabrielle

Best Costume Design

Title
Winner Caroline de Vivaise for Gabrielle
Alison Forbes-Meyler for Joyeux Noël (Merry Christmas)
Pascaline Chavanne for Les Âmes grises (Grey Souls)

Best Sound

Title
Winner Laurent Quaglio and Gérard Lamps for Marche de l'empereur (March of the Penguins)
Brigitte Taillandier, Pascal Villard, Cyril Holtz and Philippe Amouroux for De battre mon cœur s'est arrêté (The Beat That My Heart Skipped)
Guillaume Sciama, Benoît Hillebrant and Olivier Dô Hùu for Gabrielle

Best Editing

Title
Winner Juliette Welfling for De battre mon cœur s'est arrêté (The Beat That My Heart Skipped)
Sabine Emiliani for Marche de l'empereur (March of the Penguins)
Francine Sandberg for Les Poupées russes (The Russian Dolls)

Best Short Film

Title
Winner After Shave (Beyrouth après-rasage) by Hany Tamba
Obras by Hendrick Dusollier
La Peur, petit chasseur (Fear, Little Hunter) by Laurent Achard
Sous le bleu by David Oelhoffen

Best First Work

Title
Winner Darwin's Nightmare by Hubert Sauper
Anthony Zimmer by Jérôme Salle
Douches froides (Cold Showers) by Antony Cordier
La Marche de l'empereur (March of the Penguins) by Luc Jacquet
La Petite Jérualem (Little Jerusalem) by Karin Albou

Best Production Design

Title
Winner Olivier Radot for Gabrielle
Jean-Michel Simonet for Joyeux Noël (Merry Christmas)
Loula Morin for (Les Âmes grises) (Grey Souls)

Honorary César

2 Honorary Césars were awarded, one to British actor Hugh Grant, who accepted the award in French^[1] and to Pierre Richard

References

• César Awards 2006 at the IMDB.

1. ^ BBC report