ELLE WINS TOP HONOURS AT 42ND ANNUAL CESAR AWARDS

Elle wins Best Picture and Actress at the Cesar Awards, by some margin or another a better choice than the American Academy is due to make tomorrow night. That's the lot for Paul Verhoeven's controversial comedy-drama, however, as Cesar voters also choose to spread the wealth, much to my satisfaction. We'll just have to overlook the win for Xavier Dolan in Best Director... and Best Editing, however. Check out the Cesar nominations here as well.

Best Film

Elle

Best Director

Xavier Dolan (It's Only the End of the World)

Best Actress

Isabelle Huppert (Elle)

Best Actor

Gaspard Ulliel (It's Only the End of the World)

Best Supporting Actress

Deborah Lukumuena (Divines)

Best Supporting Actor

James Thierree (Chocolat)

Best Original Screenplay

Solveig Anspach and Jean-Luc Gaget (The Aquatic Effect)

Best Adapted Screenplay

Celine Sciamma (My Life as a Courgette)

Best Cinematography
Pascal Marti (Frantz)

Best Editing
Xavier Dolan (It's Only the End of the World)

Best Production Design
Jeremie D. Lignol (Chocolat)

Best Costumes
Anais Romand (The Dancer)

Best Sound
Fred Demolder, Marc Engles, Jean-Paul Hurier and Sylvain Rety (The Odyssey)

Best Original Score
Ibrahim Maalouf (In the Forests of Siberia)

Best Animated Film
My Life as a Courgette (Claude Barras, Marc Bonny, Armelle Glorennec and Eric Jacquot)

Best Documentary Film
Thanks Boss! (Anne-Cecile Berthomeau, Edouard Mauriat, Francois Ruffin and Johanna Silva)

Best Foreign Film
I, Daniel Blake (Ken Loach)

Best First Film
Divines (Houda Benyamina)

Best New Actress
Oulaya Amamra (Divines)

Best New Actor
Niels Schneider (Dark Inclusion)

Best Short Film
Maman(s) (Sylvain de Zangroniz and Maimouna Doucoure)
Vers la Tendresse (Toufik Ayadi, Christophe Barral and Alice Diop)

Best Animated Short Film
Celui Qui a Deux Ames (Sophie Fallot and Fabrice Luang-Vija)

Honorary Cesar
George Clooney

REVIEW - IT'S ONLY THE END OF THE WORLD (XAVIER DOLAN)

But would that it were! Xavier Dolan assembles a quintet of performers from whose company I'd flee even if the apocalypse were imminent, to see which one can bellow into the void with the most futile fervour. It'd be beguilingly odd if It's Only the End of the World wasn't so blatantly pretentious, for Dolan's impression of life remains remarkably dissimilar to anything resembling reality, and his attraction to theatrical works does him no favours. Whether or not it looks like the real thing - and Andre Turpin remains Dolan's greatest asset, for End of the World at least looks lovely - it certainly doesn't sound like the real thing, whether it's incessant verbosity or pompous silence. Characters drone on in monologues that seem intended to express a great deal about themselves, though whose abstract imprecision and florid style consistently only express a great deal about their writer. With receipt neither from their companions within the screen nor from their audience beyond it, the result is dull, draining and wholly lacking in insight. And that's a shame, because Dolan is genuinely on to something in his choice of mise-en-scene. The claustrophobic close-ups are easily dismissed, given their inevitable ineffectuality when set against that heinous dialogue, and their necessary unpleasantness, but they are collectively an intelligent, empathetic idea. The boldness of Dolan and Turpin's approach may convey only one pertinent thematic notion, but it does so succinctly, which is a quality elsewhere absent from End of the World. Altogether, it's a fascinating misfire, albeit one that would be much more fascinating if it weren't for its insufferability. Spend your days, whether or not they be your last, watching something else.

ECUMENICAL JURY SURPRISES AT CANNES 2016, SIDES WITH DOLAN

It's not the end of the world, exactly, but not that anyone would think it so, unlike Xavier Dolan: he seemed to think it might have been after critics savaged his Cannes competition entry It's Only the End of the World. It's one of the main comp's worst-reviewed titles this year, and easily its worst-reviewed to have been the subject of some considerable defence, not least by its filmmaker. But Cannes' Ecumenical Jury seems to support the Canadian Dolan, rewarding him with their first place citation for this year's whole festival. See what else they chose to recognise - some typically left-field choices from the ecumenical jury - below:

Prize of the Ecumenical Jury

It's Only the End of the World (Xavier Dolan)

Special Commendations

American Honey (Andrea Arnold)

I, Daniel Blake (Ken Loach)