actress and filmmaker Agnès Jaoui will receive an honorary César

Agnès Jaoui is “the most awarded female artist at the Césars, with six statuettes”, recalls the Académie des Césars. Christopher Nolan, director of the film Oppenheimer, will also receive an honorary César.

The actress and director Agnès Jaoui will receive, at the age of 59, an honorary César for her career, during the 49th César ceremony, the organizers announced on Friday January 19. This prize will reward a “complete artist” with forty years of career, with five feature films directed, including The taste of Others (2000), which won the César for best film and best screenplay.

She also has around fifty roles on screen (Smoking/No Smoking And We know the song at Alain Resnais, A family resemblance at Cédric Klapisch…). Not to mention the scene. “It was in the theater, in 1987, that his career truly began and was forever marked : she meets a certain Jean-Pierre Bacri there. A true creative fusion took place between them, giving birth to numerous successful plays and films., underlines the Académie des César in a press release. They were one of the most famous couples in cinema, and remained close after their separation, until the death of Jean-Pierre Bacri in 2021.

Artist and activist

Committed, she spoke out in 2020 against sexism and misogyny, recounting having been “abused around 5 years old by a stranger in the stairwell of [son] building”then at 11 years old by his uncle, to reduce the silence on sexual violence.

Agnès Jaoui is “the most awarded female artist at the Césars, with six statuettes”, underlines the press release. She has never stopped filming and will still be showing on Wednesday January 24 in a comedy, The Last of the Jews. The César nominations must be revealed next Wednesday. The film Anatomy of a fallwhich won the Palme d’Or in May, is the favorite.

Honorary Cesar for Christopher Nolan

British-American filmmaker Christopher Nolan, who recently directed Oppenheimerwill also receive an Honorary César during the 49th César Ceremony, “His films, such as Tenet, Dunkirk, Interstellar, Inception or the trilogy The Dark Knighthave been rewarded with a multitude of prizes around the world”indicates the Academy of Cinema Arts and Techniques.

The members of the Academy will have one month to vote, before the ceremony is held on February 23 at the Olympia, chaired by Valérie Lemercier. The evening, often the occasion for political or social demands, will also be a baptism of fire for the new Minister of Culture Rachida Dati.