He came to declare his love for Agnès Jaoui, but a spectator almost ruined this precious moment. This Friday, February 23, at the 49th César ceremony, Jamel Debbouze specifically took the stage to present an honorary César to Agnès Jaoui. The comedian and founder of the Jamel Comedy Club delivered a poignant speech, and paid a very nice tribute to the 59-year-old actress, director and screenwriterto whom we owe great masterpieces of French cinema such asA family resemblance, we know the song And The taste of Others.
But when he was just beginning his speech, a spectator came to interrupt him… Quite annoyed, but with a touch of humor all the same, Jamel Debbouze knew how to send it to pasture: “Shut up !” After making the whole room laugh, the husband of the journalist Mélissa Theuriau was able to start his speech, applauded by the whole room, which moved the person concerned: “The first time I met Agnès, it was Jean-Pierre Bacri who introduced her to me by saying: At the beginning, she is a little distant, but after four, five years, she will love. And he was right. When she loves you, it’s for life.”
With great sincerity, Jamel Debbouze wanted to remind us that Agnès Jaoui is a woman who defends “the weakest”all in “(twisting) his mouth in condescension and contempt” : “Agnès Jaoui raised me, allowed me to gain height. She taught me to breathe in the cinema, but not only in the cinema”. With this honorary Caesar, Agnès Jaoui wins her seventh trophyand is the most awarded woman in the history of the ceremony. Between 1994 and 2001, the actress and director received six Césars for films Smoking / No smoking, A family resemblance, We know the song And The taste of Others. She has since only been nominated twice, for Like a picture in 2005, and Like a plane in 2016.
She owes her story to Jean-Pierre Bacri
On stage, after Jamel Debbouze’s laudatory and moving speech, Agnès Jaoui wanted to have a tender thought for Jean-Pierre Bacri, with whom she directed all of her greatest films, and with whom she was in a relationship from 1987 to 2012: “You also salute the work that I have accomplished with Jean-Pierre Bacri. Your gesture touches me, I take it as a sign of esteem and friendship” she declared. Jean-Pierre Bacri was unfortunately not present to witness his partner’s coronation, since the actor died on January 18, 2021 at the age of 69 following a long and painful battle against illness.