Virginie Efira triumphs at the César ceremony
The Belgian received the César for Best Actress at the most prestigious French cinema awards ceremony of the year, the equivalent of the Oscars in the United States. Another Belgian, Bouli Lanners, received the César for Best Supporting Actor.
The Césars are film awards created in 1976 that are presented annually in Paris by the Academy of Cinema Arts and Techniques (or César Academy) to different categories cinema professionals to recognise the best French productions.
Virginie Efira had been nominated five times for Best Actress and once for Best Supporting Actress in recent years, but had never won an award.
2023 is therefore the year in which the Belgian actress finally earned recognition since, at this 48th César Awards ceremony, she finally left with the most beautiful trophy awarded to an actress in French cinema. Given an ovation by the cinema professionals gathered at L'Olympia, Paris, she simply exclaimed, "It's so wonderful" when presented with the trophy sculpted by the artist César (born 1 January 1921 in Marseille, died 6 December 1998 in Paris).
It was her role as the survivor of a terrorist attack (inspired by the attack committed by Islamic terrorists at the Bataclan), in the film "Revoir Paris" (Paris Memories), a powerful story of resilience by director Alice Winocour, that earned her this highest honour in France.
We must also recognise the wonderful acting performance of Belgian Bouli Lanners (also known as a director) who won the César for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in "La Nuit du 12" (The Night of the 12th) by Dominik Moll.