Spanish Karla Sofía Gascón narrowly missed out on the Best Actress César despite the triumphant night of Emilia Pérez. Jacques Audiard's film was crowned as the big winner of the 50th César Awards ceremony, the most important in French cinema, with a total of seven awards, including Best Film and Best Director.
The French academy chose actress and director Hafsia Herzi for her role in Borgo (a prison thriller set in Corsica), who stood in her way and ultimately won the coveted award for best French actress of the year.
"I'm not sure how I feel, but I'm grateful to be back," declared the first transgender actress nominated for an Oscar to The Hollywood Reporter, confirming her attendance at the last two major film events. However, Gascón maintained a low profile in Paris after Netflix's decision to lift the ban and cover her expenses.
Her entrance at the Olympia theater was rather discreet: dressed in black, separated from the rest of the Emilia Pérez team, and without stopping to speak to the cameras, blowing kisses as she walked the red carpet. During the ceremony, with a very serious face, she had to endure the host's joke, director, actor, and rapper Jean-Pascal Zadi, when he said the film was also nominated for "best tweet."
The cameras turned towards her for the first time when director Jacques Audiard tipped his hat upon receiving the early César for Best Adapted Screenplay. Audiard had publicly distanced himself from his talisman actress and condemned her racist and xenophobic comments on social media as "hateful" and "unforgivable." Upon receiving the Best Director award, he made a special mention of Karla.
Upon receiving the Best Director award, Audiard made a special mention of Karla.
Emilia Pérez started as the third favorite film in the 50th edition of the César Awards with twelve nominations, surpassed only by The Count of Monte Cristo and Broken Hearts, two major box office hits in French cinema in 2024.
Karla Sofía Gascón competed for Best Actress with her co-star Zoe Saldaña, who supported her amidst the media storm of recent weeks. Alongside the awarded Hafsia Herzi, the competitors were Adèle Exharchopoulos (for the romantic drama Broken Hearts) and the veteran Hélène Vincent (When Autumn Falls).
The liveliest moment of the night was provided by Clément and Camille Ducol, upon receiving the César for Best Original Music for Emilia Pérez. Camille Dalmais expressly thanked Karla Sofía Gascón when celebrating the fourth award of the night for the musical.
After her Parisian redemption, the actress from Alcobendas will compete on Sunday for the Best Actress Oscar against Demi Moore (the favorite with The Substance), Micky Madison (Bafta winner with Anora), Cynthia Erivo (Wicked), and the Brazilian Fernanda Torres (I'm Still Here).
The tireless Catherine Deneuve (with a 'pin' featuring the Ukrainian flag on her lapel) presided at 81 over the ceremony where she was honored with a César honorary award alongside Julia Roberts. The Greco-French director Costa-Gavras also received an honorary career award, and Alain Delon was honored with a selection of his best scenes, from The Leopard to New Wave.
The ceremony confirmed the good moment of French cinema, underscored by the successes of 'The Count of Monte Cristo' (the acclaimed adaptation of Alexandre Dumas' novel by Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de La Patellière) and Broken Hearts by Gilles Lellouche. The year's highest-grossing film, A Little Extra Something, by comedian Artis (nearly 11 million viewers), was only nominated for Best Debut Feature.
On the other hand, Spanish director Elena López Riera won the César award for Best Documentary Short Film for 'The Brides of the South,' an intimate portrait where women of different generations talk about desire, marriage, and sexuality.