Roman Polanski Won At The Cesar Awards––And People Were Pissed
Roman Polanski won the Best Director trophy at last night’s Cesar Awards for his movie “Roman: My Life as a Creepy Piece of Shit” “J’Accuse” despite the entire board having quit following his nomination, not to mention those multiple new allegations of sexual misconduct. Yep, the French Film Academy ignored ALL of that and still thought it a good idea to give it to him.
J’Accuse? More like: quelle fucking surprise.
Upon hearing Polanski’s name read as the winner, Adèle Haenel, who was a Best Actress nominee for Portrait of a Lady on Fire, and who had recently come out as a victim of sexual assault herself and opposed his nomination, refused to fake clap and instead shot the fuck up out of her seat and stormed off in protest, waving dismissively at the stage.
A l'annonce du César de la Meilleure Réalisation pour Roman Polanski ("J'accuse"), Adèle Haenel quitte la salle.
Le meilleur des #César2020 > https://t.co/ipnVwouBeV pic.twitter.com/7xa0CTbU3H
— CANAL+ (@canalplus) February 28, 2020
As expected, Roman pulled his usual stunt of not showing up to collect his award. He didn’t even attend the ceremony. And not, as I’d hoped because his 87-year-old ass had fallen and could not get up. Instead, he was afraid that feminist protestors would publically lynch him. Seriously, he said that. However, despite one of France’s major feminist organizations, Osez le féminisme! (Dare feminism!) being front and center outside the gala, they were also joined by many, many other activist groups.
Police fired tear gas at protesters outside the #Cesars2020 awards show, where controversial director Roman Polanski's latest film is nominated for 12 awards.
He pleaded guilty to having sex with a minor in 1977 but fled before sentencing. He's been a fugitive since. pic.twitter.com/d007ENohTV
— AJ+ (@ajplus) February 28, 2020
Best Film went to the Oscar-nominated Les Misérables, which makes Roman’s Director win seem even more like a statement of support.
The Cesar Awards committee is REALLY going to have to do some damage control before next year’s nominations (assuming there is a next year: for French cinema, and for the rest of us).
Pics: Twitter