The surprise was total. To the point where Monia Chokri remained in a state of shock for several minutes upon learning, Friday evening, that her comedy Simple like Sylvain won the César for best foreign film, notably beating the film Oppenheimer by Christopher Nolan.
• Read also: “Simple as Sylvain” by Monia Chokri preferred to “Oppenheimer” by Christopher Nolan for the César for best foreign film
“At the time, I wasn’t able to move. I didn’t understand, actually. It took me a little while to realize [de ce qui arrivait]», Confided the Quebec director on Saturday, the day after her triumph at the César ceremony, the great mass of French cinema.
We can understand his astonishment. During the days leading up to the ceremony, Monia Chokri was told several times by her French press agents that it would take a small miracle for Simple like Sylvain won the César for best foreign film. Especially since the famous American-British filmmaker Christopher Nolan, nominated in the same category with his successful film Oppenheimerwould be present in the room to receive a lifetime achievement award.
Now, the miracle happened.
“I knew that my film was popular in France,” she says. I felt it because several people had told me that they had voted for me. But it remained so absurd in my eyes to win against Nolan, who was also in the room, that I didn’t believe it. But it happened and it’s great!”
While going to collect her prize on the stage of the Olympia in Paris, Monia Chokri made the room laugh by speaking directly to Christopher Nolan to tell him that she was “so sorry”. Did she get a chance to talk to him after the ceremony?
“No, so my only interaction with him in my life was going to be: ‘I’m so sorry, Mister Nolan,’” she says with a laugh.
“My life is beautiful”
In her speech, the Quebec director also underlined her gratitude by saying that the life she has is greater than the one she dreamed of.
“When I said that, I was obviously referring to everything that happens to me, but I also wanted to say that my life is beautiful,” she explains. “I work with my best friends. Three of them [la productrice Nancy Grant et les actrices Magalie Lépine-Blondeau et Nadia Tereszkiewicz] were sitting in the same row as me on Friday.
“It’s extraordinary to experience this with such close people. I’m healthy, I’m happy, I’m doing what I love in life. I was thinking of all that when I said my life is big.”
Even though she slept little last night, Monia Chokri says she has enough energy to celebrate a little more with her friends on Saturday evening. But starting Monday, she will dive back into work, in this case writing her fourth and next feature film.
“I’m based in Paris at the moment because I’m writing my next film. I have a pretty boring life. I just write, go to the pool to swim and have dinner in the evening with my boyfriend. It’s a very relaxed life, but one that I really like to have,” she breathes.
A French #MeToo
Besides the triumph of the film Anatomy of a fall by Justine Triet, winner of six trophies, the 49e edition of the César was marked by the speech of the actress Judith Godrèche, who in recent weeks has become a leading figure in the #MeToo movement which is currently shaking the French cinema sector.
Monia Chokri says she was touched by Judith Godrèche’s speech but also by those that followed, including that of Justine Triet.
“I found that the speeches were interesting because they were tempered,” notes the Quebec director.
“There was something different from the very vindictive French tone. I found it very beautiful, this welcome of words and that it ends with Justine Triet, who dedicated her last César to all women. It was quite beautiful. I thought it set the tone well for the tide that is turning at the moment in the world of French cinema.