"I'm so sorry Mr. Nolan" 🙏
— CANAL+ (@canalplus) February 23, 2024
Monia Chokri s'excuse auprès de Christopher Nolan après avoir remporté le César du Meilleur film étranger pour Simple comme Sylvain.#César2024 pic.twitter.com/HtOeCDi1NE
Simple comme Sylvain | The Nature of Love is now the second Canadian film to ever win the César award for Best Foreign Film. The César is for the French film awards. Monia Chokri beat out Fallen Leaves | Kuolleet lehdet (Finland/Germany) from Aki Kaurismäki; Kidnapped | Rapito (Italy) from Marco Bellocchio; Oppenheimer (U.S./UK) from Christopher Nolan; and Perfect Days (Japan/Germany) from Wim Wenders.
Chokri's win was definitely rare: only 3 other women had won the Césars in that category. The female winners were Jane Campion for The Piano (1994), Sofia Coppola for Lost in Translation (2005), and Valerie Faris for Little Miss Sunshine (2007). Chokri is only the second Canadian director to win the award behind Xavier Dolan for Mommy (2014). The César award for Best Foreign Film has been given out since 1976.
There are a few comparisons between Dolan and Chokri. In her victory speech, Chokri thanked a number of collaborators, including producer Nancy Grant, known for her work with Xavier Dolan.
"You made me a filmmaker," Chokri said. "I can say today that the life I have is bigger than the one I dreamed of."
Huge congrats to Monia Chokri and the whole team who won the César for Best Foreign Film for Simple comme Sylvain! 🌟🎞️
— Pascale St-Onge (@PascaleStOnge_) February 24, 2024
Quebec and all of Canada are proud of you!https://t.co/m2C2N8JlfW
Here are the Canadian films that have made the Top 5 cut in this category, but didn't win. Note that all of them belong to Dolan with one David Cronenberg exception.
Eastern Promises (UK/Canada) David Cronenberg (2008)
J'ai tué ma mère | I Killed My Mother (Canada) Xavier Dolan (2010)
Les amours imaginaires | Heartbeats (Canada) Xavier Dolan (2011)
Laurence Anyways (Canada) Xavier Dolan (2013)
Juste la fin du monde | It's Only the End of the World (Canada/France) Xavier Dolan (2017)
Chokri was the female lead as an actor in Les amours imaginaires and had a smaller role in Laurence Anyways. She also appears in a smaller role in Simple comme Sylvain. Co-productions with France are allowed in the category. Your humble narrator has seen all of these films except for Eastern Promises.
Xavier Dolan says he wants to stop making films
Mommy wins Cesar for Best Foreign Film
Chokri wrote and directed La femme de mon frère | A Brother's Love (2019) and directed and starred in Babysitter (2022).
Dolan and Chokri act in their films. They are great storytellers with attention to detail. Their films are very thoughtful. Chokri acted in a couple of Dolan's films, a great way to learn. Since Dolan is not making films anymore, more eyes are on Chokri in the Quebecois film scene.
Chokri focuses on Sophia (Magalie Lépine-Blondeau), a 40-year-old philosophy professor who was in a long-time relationship with Xavier, a political science professor. Her relationship is boring and familiar. Then she meets Sylvain (Pierre-Yves Cardinal), a polar opposite of hers. Chokri shows pleasure from her point of view in the subsequent affair.
Canadian film review: Simple comme Sylvain
Speaking of Dolan, the Canadian filmmaker will head the jury of Un Certain Regard at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.
"I am humbled and delighted to return to Cannes as President of the Un Certain Regard Jury," Xavier Dolan said in a statement. "Even more than making films myself, discovering the work of talented filmmakers has always been at the very heart of both my personal and professional journeys. I see, in this responsibility I’m assigned, the opportunity to focus with the members of the Un Certain Regard Jury on an essential aspect of the art of film : stories told truthfully."
The 2024 Cannes Film Festival runs May 14-25. Simple comme Sylvain | The Nature of Love had its world premiere in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival.
Dolan has quite a bit of history with Cannes. Mommy received the Cannes Jury Prize. Juste la fin du monde won the Cannes Grand Prix. Les amours imaginaires and Laurence Anyways also played in the Un Certain Regard section.
CanadianCrossing.com film coverage
BAFTA has a similar award for Best Film Not in the English Language that the British film awards have given out since 1973. No Canadian film has won the award but the country has supplied 4 films that made the Top 5 cut for the award.
Jésus de Montréal Denys Arcand (1990)
The Barbarian Invasions | Les invasions barbares Denys Arcand (2003)
Les Triplettes de Belleville Sylvain Chomet France/Canada (2003)
Incendies Denis Villeneuve (2011)
CanadianCrossing.com film reviews
Oscar. César. Even Genie and Gemini. After a significant delay, we will know the Canadian Screen Awards nominees for 2024 for Canadian TV and Canadian film on Wednesday morning. Despite the push to name the awards Candys after the late John Candy, the folks behind the awards still haven't given them a clever nickname. John Candy passed away 30 years ago today.
Canadian film (Genie) and Canadian TV (Gemini) were separate awards before they were combined for the 2013 awards, honouring those in 2012. We have always felt like each division deserved their separate time in the spotlight. The shift in the awards from the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television since the pandemic has only soured us on this idea.
Twitter captures: @canalplus; @PascaleStOnge_
photo credit: Simple comme Sylvain | The Nature of Love
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