At the César 2022, “Kaamelott” and popular comedies have no place – The HuffPost

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CINEMA – “My mission this year is to give people the desire to return to cinemas”, proclaims Anthony of Caunesmaster of ceremonies -for the 10th time- of the Caesar ceremony this Friday, February 25 on Canal+. Except that the films which motivated the French to return to the cinema after two years of crisis and three confinements are not invited to the party.

When we dive into the list of the biggest French hits in theaters in 2021, 4 of the 6 most popular films are comedies:KaamelottOSS 117, Les Tuche 4 and The Bodins. Together, they have accumulated nearly 7.5 million cinema admissions for… zero César nominations. If the non-place of comedies during the high mass of French cinema has regularly raised questions since its creation in 1976, the fact remains that the wide gap between the films acclaimed by the French on the one hand, and those which find favor in the eyes of the few 4500 professionals voting for the Académie des César is particularly striking this year.

Comedy, a genre shunned by the elites

Historically, however, “French cinema was really built around comedy”, reminds the HuffPost Adrien Valgalier, doctoral student in film studies at Paul-Valéry University in Montpellier. “More than 50% of the production of the first silent films are comedies for example. And until today, the comedy has always kept a significant place at the box office. But this cultural tradition is not reflected at all at the Césars.

If we have to mention the trophy for best actress in a supporting role to Valérie Lemercier for Visitors in 1994 or that of best actor awarded to Jacques Villeret for The stupid dinner in 1999, the fact remains that in almost 50 years the examples of prizes awarded to comedies can be counted on the fingers of two hands. And for sociologists who observe the film industry, there is nothing surprising in that.

“The Césars position themselves as an institution that legitimizes the works, as if they were the ‘guardians of the French cinematographic temple'”, explains Chloé Delaporte, teacher-researcher in socio-economics of cinema and audiovisual at the university. Paul-Valery of Montpellier. “Genre films – and comedy is one of them – are traditionally shunned by the intellectual elites in France. Bringing popular comedies into the Césars would almost go against their identity.”

A point of view shared by Adrien Valgalier for whom the Césars participate in “issues of cultural legitimation”, just like the media or festivals do. If the 3rd part of the adventures ofOSS 117 directed by Nicolas Bedos had the chance to open the Cannes Film Festival, Kaamelott, Les Tuche or Les Bodin’s were completely discarded by the intelligentsia cinema, even despised by the critics.

Notoriety but not popularity

And in the end, a César nomination is more “an indicator of notoriety than of quality”. “The César voting system is such that the list of nominees tells us which films the professionals have talked about within their sector”, advances Chloé Delaporte who is about to publish a book on The reward culture in competitions, festivals and film awards.

For the “dominant institutions” such as the Academy of Cinema Arts and Techniques or the prestigious Cannes or Venice festivals, comedy has “never been a noble genre”. First, because like all genre films (horror is one too), it is too far from the idealized conception of French cinema, “mixture of the New Wave and French quality” for Adrien Valgalier. And also because comedy is associated with laughter, “a sound expression of the human body which, in our Western society, can be considered vulgar”, sketches his colleague. “As soon as a director places himself in the objective of eliciting a bodily reaction from his audience, he is almost self-banned in the eyes of the intelligentsia.”

In 2018, the Academy announced the creation of a César du public rewarding the feature film at the top of the box office. That year, the prize – which was not the result of a vote, but therefore of an economic success – had been awarded to Dany Boon for the comedy Raid worn by Alice Pol and Sabine Azéma. Backpedaling three years later, in 2021, where the public César gave way to an anniversary César given to the troop of the Splendid. “History of highlighting the comedy at the center of the debates”, assumed the mistress of ceremonies Marina Foïs.

A choice not really “daring” for the doctoral student in cinematographic studies who sees it rather as a sign of “the patrimony of a certain popular French cinema” dated 40 years ago, rather than being interested in current production.

This Friday, February 25, neither Caesar of the public nor Caesar birthday on the program. If Antoine de Caunes regrets the absence of Kaamelott among the nominees – “not because I play it, but because the approach to Alexandre Astier’s epic film was not perceived by the trade as it could have been”, he blew – it is rather between the prizes that laughter will have the honors, to punctuate the long evening of Canal + viewers. Because in the cultural hierarchy of television, comedy arguably has a better place.

See also on The HuffPost: Antoine de Caunes, the choice of reason to save the Caesars in decline