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

ON BODY AND SOUL WINS BERLIN GOLDEN BEAR

Berlinale 2017 has come to its close with the presentation of awards. The year's first major film festival makes Hungarian director Enyedi Ildiko's On Body and Soul the year's first major festival winner, taking the Golden Bear from the main competition, whose jury was led by Paul Verhoeven, and also faring very well from other juries in attendance. Check out the results in full below.

Golden Bear
On Body and Soul (Enyedi Ildiko)

Silver Bear for Jury Grand Prix
Felicite (Alain Gomis)

Silver Bear for Best Director
Aki Kaurismaki (The Other Side of Hope)

Silver Bear for Best Actress
Kim Min Hee (On the Beach at Night Alone)

Silver Bear for Best Actor
Georg Friedrich (Bright Nights)

Silver Bear for Best Script
Sebastian Lelio and Gonzalo Maza (A Fantastic Woman)

Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution
Dana Bunescu (Ana, Mon Amour)

Silver Bear for Alfred Bauer Prize
Spoor (Agnieszka Holland)

More awards after the cut:

INTERNATIONAL CINEPHILE SOCIETY AWARDS: ELLE, MOONLIGHT & SILENCE LEAD

A corrective to the tedium of the majority of other awards groups' nominations, here are the International Cinephile Society's picks for 2016. Eight mentions is the maximum, with three films claiming the lead - Paul Verhoeven's Elle, Barry Jenkins' Moonlight and Martin Scorsese's Silence. See what happens when you leave it a little longer to make your year-end choices? And see what happens when you poll the opinions of people with taste and intelligence? Winners will be announced on the 19th of February.

Best Picture

Cemetery of Splendour

Certain Women

Elle

Jackie

Julieta

Manchester by the Sea

Moonlight

Silence

Things to Come

Toni Erdmann

Best Director

Maren Ade (Toni Erdmann)

Pedro Almodovar (Julieta)

Barry Jenkins (Moonlight)

Martin Scorsese (Silence)

Paul Verhoeven (Elle)

Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Cemetery of Splendour)

Best Actress

Sonia Braga (Aquarius)

Isabelle Huppert (Elle)

Sandra Huller (Toni Erdmann)

Natalie Portman (Jackie)

Zhao Tao (Mountains May Depart)

Best Actor

Casey Affleck (Manchester by the Sea)

Adam Driver (Paterson)

Colin Farrell (The Lobster)

Andrew Garfield (Silence)

Jeong Jae Yeong (Right Now, Wrong Then)

Peter Simonischek (Toni Erdmann)

Best Supporting Actress

Viola Davis (Fences)

Lily Gladstone (Certain Women)

Sandrine Kiberlain (Being 17)

Nicole Kidman (Lion)

Nagasawa Masami (Our Little Sister)

Best Supporting Actor

Mahershala Ali (Moonlight)

Tom Bennett (Love & Friendship)

Alden Ehrenreich (Hail, Caesar!)

Andre Holland (Moonlight)

Ogata Issei (Silence)

Best Original Screenplay

Maren Ade (Toni Erdmann)

Efthymis Filippou and Yorgos Lanthimos (The Lobster)

Mia Hansen-Love (Things to Come)

Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester by the Sea)

Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Cemetery of Splendour)

Best Adapted Screenplay

Pedro Almodovar (Julieta)

David Birke (Elle)

Jay Cocks and Martin Scorsese (Silence)

Barry Jenkins and Tarell Alvin McCraney (Moonlight)

Kelly Reichardt (Certain Women)

Whit Stillman (Love & Friendship)

Best Cinematography

Manuel Dacosse (Evolution)

Stephane Fontaine (Jackie)

David Gallego (Embrace of the Serpent)

James Laxton (Moonlight)

Rodrigo Prieto (Silence)

Best Editing

Joi McMillon and Nat Sanders (Moonlight)

Thelma Schoonmaker (Silence)

Sebastian Sepulveda (Jackie)

Job ter Burg (Elle)

Joe Walker (Arrival)

Best Production Design

Dante Ferretti (Silence)

Antxon Gomez (Julieta)

Jess Gonchor (Hail, Caesar!)

Ryu Seong Hee (The Handmaiden)

David Wasco (La La Land)

Best Score

Anne Dudley (Elle)

Alberto Iglesias (Julieta)

Mica Levi (Jackie)

Cliff Martinez (The Neon Demon)

Laurent Perez del Mar (The Red Turtle)

Best Ensemble

Certain Women

Elle

Julieta

The Lobster

Moonlight

Best Animated Film

Kubo and the Two Strings

My Life as a Courgette

The Red Turtle

Your Name.

Zootopia

Best Documentary

Cameraperson
Fire at Sea

Francofonia

No Home Movie

O.J.: Made in America

Best Film Not in the English Language

Aquarius

Being 17

Cemetery of Splendour

Cosmos

Elle

Embrace of the Serpent

The Handmaiden

Julieta

Mountains May Depart

Things to Come

Toni Erdmann

Best Picture Not Released in 2016

Brothers of the Night

The Death of Louis XIV

Despite the Night

Happy Times Will Come Soon

The Lost City of Z

Nocturama

The Ornithologist

Personal Shopper

A Quiet Passion

Sieranevada

Slack Bay

The Son of Joseph

Staying Vertical

Sweet Dreams

Yourself and Yours

ELLE LEADS 42ND CESAR AWARD NOMINATIONS

It goes without saying, not least after last year's nominations, but the 42nd Cesar Awards' lineup is chock-full of diversity. Case in point: 16 of the nominated films, including four of the seven Best Film nominees, are directed by women, while it had been 16 years since the Oscar's 19 main categories failed to feature a single female-directed feature, until Tuesday's slate. As is often the case, the same few films dominate across the categories, with Paul Verhoeven's Elle leading with 11 mentions. The Cesar awards will be held on the 24th of February.

Best Film

Divines

Elle

Frantz

From the Land of the Moon

The Innocents

Slack Bay

Victoria

Best Director

Houda Benyamina (Divines)

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

Bruno Dumont (Slack Bay)

Anne Fontaine (The Innocents)

Nicole Garcia (From the Land of the Moon)

Francois Ozon (Frantz)

Paul Verhoeven (Elle)

Best Actress

Judith Chemla (A Woman's Life)

Marion Cotillard (From the Land of the Moon)

Virginie Efira (Victoria)

Marina Fois (Faultless)

Isabelle Huppert (Elle)

Sidse Babett Knudsen (150 Milligrams)
Stephanie Sokolinski (The Dancer)

Best Actor

Francois Cluzet (Irreplaceable)

Pierre Deladonchamps (The Son of John)

Nicolas Duvauchelle (A Decent Man)

Fabrice Luchini (Slack Bay)
Pierre Niney (Frantz)

Omar Sy (Chocolat)

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

Best Supporting Actress

Nathalie Baye (It's Only the End of the World)

Valeria Bruni Tedeschi (Slack Bay)

Anne Consigny (Elle)

Deborah Lukumuena (Divines)

Melanie Thierry (The Dancer)

Best Supporting Actor

Gabriel Arcand (A Kid)

Vincent Cassel (It's Only the End of the World)

Vincent Lacoste (Victoria)

Laurent Lafitte (Elle)

Melvil Poupaud (Victoria)

James Thierree (Chocolat)

Best Original Screenplay

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

Houda Benyamina, Romain Compingt and Malik Rumeau (Divines)

Pascal Bonitzer, Anne Fontaine, Sabrina Karine and Alice Vial (The Innocents)

Bruno Dumont (Slack Bay)

Justine Triet (Victoria)

Best Adapted Screenplay

Emmanuelle Bercot and Severine Bosschem (150 Milligrams)

David Birke (Elle)

Jacques Fieschi and Nicole Garcia (From the Land of the Moon)

Francois Ozon (Frantz)

Katell Quillevere and Gilles Taurand (Heal the Living)

Celine Sciamma (My Life as a Courgette)

Best Cinematography

Christophe Beaucarne (From the Land of the Moon)

Caroline Champetier (The Innocents)

Guillaume Deffontaines (Slack Bay)

Stephane Fontaine (Elle)

Pascal Marti (Frantz)

Best Editing

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

Laure Gardette (Frantz)

Simon Jacquet (From the Land of the Moon)

Loic Lallemand and Vincent Tricon (Divines)

Job ter Burg (Elle)

Best Production Design

Michel Barthelemy (Frantz)

Carlos Conti (The Dancer)

Riton Dupire-Clement (Slack Bay)

Jeremie D. Lignol (Chocolat)

Katia Wyszkop (Planetarium)

Best Costumes

Alexander Charles (Slack Bay)

Pascaline Chavanne (Frantz)

Madeline Fontaine (A Woman's Life)

Catherine Leterrier (From the Land of the Moon)

Anais Romand (The Dancer)

Best Sound

Martin Boissau, Benoit Gargonne and Jean-Paul Hurier (Frantz)

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

Jean-Pierre Duret, Jean-Pierre Laforce and Sylvain Malbrant (From the Land of the Moon)

Vincent Guillon, Brigitte Taillandier and Stephane Thiebaut (Chocolat)

Cyril Holtz, Damie Lazzerini, Jean-Paul Mugel and Alexis Place (Elle)

Best Original Score

Anne Dudley (Elle)

Sophie Hunger (My Life as a Courgette)

Ibrahim Maalouf (In the Forests of Siberia)

Philippe Romi (Frantz)

Gabriel Yared (Chocolat)

Best Animated Film

The Girl Without Hands (Sebastien Laudenbach and Jean-Christophe Soulageon)

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

The Red Turtle (Pascal Caucheteux, Michael Dudok de Wit and Vincent Maraval)

Best Documentary Film

Dernieres Nouvelles du Cosmos (Julie Bertuccelli, Yael Fogiel and Laetitia Gonzalez)

Fire at Sea (Caille Laemle, Serge Lalou and Gianfranco Rosi)

Journey Through French Cinema (Frederic Bourboulon and Bertrand Tavernier)

Swagger (Olivier Babinet, Marine Dorfmann and Alexandre Perrier)

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

Best Foreign Film

Aquarius (Kleber Mendonca Filho)

Graduation (Cristian Mungiu)

I, Daniel Blake (Ken Loach)
It's Only the End of the World (Xavier Dolan)

Manchester by the Sea (Kenneth Lonergan)

Toni Erdmann (Maren Ade)

The Unknown Girl (Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne)

Best First Film

The Dancer (Stephanie di Giusto)

Dark Inclusion (Arthur Harari)

Divines (Houda Benyamina)

The Fabulous Patars (Sophie Reine)

Rosalie Blum (Julien Rappeneau)

Best New Actress

Oulaya Amamra (Divines)

Paula Beer (Frantz)

Lily-Rose Depp (The Dancer)

Noemie Merlant (Heaven Will Wait)

Raph (Slack Bay)

Best New Actor

Jonas Bloquet (Elle)

Damien Bonnard (Staying Vertical)

Corentin Fila (Being 17)

Kacey Mottet Klein (Being 17)

Niels Schneider (Dark Inclusion)

Best Short Film

Apres Suzanne (Benjamin Elalouf, Felix Moati, Elsa Rodde and Leah Weil)

Au Bruit des Clochettes (Judith Lou Levy and Chabmane Zariab)

Chasse Royale (Lise Akoka, Marine Alaric and Romane Gueret)

Maman(s) (Sylvain de Zangroniz and Maimouna Doucoure)

Vers la Tendresse (Toufik Ayadi, Christophe Barral and Alice Diop)

Best Animated Short Film

Cafe Froid (Perrine Capron, Marc Jousset, Stephanie Lansaque and Francois Leroy)

Celui Qui a Deux Ames (Sophie Fallot and Fabrice Luang-Vija)

Journal Anime (Donato Sansone and Nicolas Schmerkin)

Peripheria (David Coquard-Dassault and Nicholas Schmerkin)

ELLE IS LA INTERNACIONAL CINEFILA'S FILM OF THE YEAR

Year-end top tens don't come much smarter than La Internacional Cinefila's. The estimable Spanish publication's choices are always fine summations of the best in cinema of their respective frames, and their 2016 selections are reliably strong. Auteurs aplenty here, though it's Paul Verhoeven who tops the lot, as Elle claims the first place position. The full top 11 below.

Best Film

1. Elle (Paul Verhoeven)

2. The Death of Louis XIV (Albert Serra)

3. Aquarius (Kleber Mendonca Filho)

4. Sieranevada (Cristi Puiu)

5. Toni Erdmann (Maren Ade)

6. El Viento Sabe Que Vuelvo a Casa (Jose Luis Torres Leiva)

7. Homeland: Iraq Year Zero (Abbas Fahdel)

8. Hermia & Helena (Matias Pineiro)

=  The Ornithologist (Joao Pedro Rodrigues)

10. Paterson (Jim Jarmusch)

=   Staying Vertical (Alain Guiraudie)

Best First Film

1. La Noche (Edgardo Castro)

2. Short Stay (Ted Fendt)

3. The Human Surge (Eduardo Williams)

REVIEW - KING COBRA (JUSTIN KELLY)

It's not for nothing that we viewers get a serious kick out of porn, often especially porn featuring performers only recently of age. There's something quite thrilling in the exhibition of a young person only newly aware of a particular practice, skill or ability, yet brazenly unabashed and remarkably mature; this thrill only amplified when it's accompanied by the added taboo of homosexuality. It's in this understanding of the gay male attitude toward sex and sexual expression that King Cobra finds its fuel, though Justin Kelly sadly insists upon fuelling a regressive exercise in shallow salacity and sensationalization, contributing to the problematic character of that attitude both from the society without and the society within. Willing neither to explore psychological depth nor to expose genuine physical titillation in the pursuit of meaningful arousal, Kelly crafts King Cobra as a vacuous appropriation of style and a muddled attempt at provoking scandal. Though engaging and enjoyable, the film's stylistic motifs never truly coalesce, too inauthentic in their concept and too sporadic in their application; with an unambitious approach to narrative and character development, most everything herein is eventually overcome with either familiarity and/or banality. Occasional spurts of bizarre black humour seem to signify a will to turn King Cobra into an instant cult classic, perhaps like a gay Showgirls (as if it isn't already gay enough); these fail, since what worked for Paul Verhoeven then was directly due to his being in possession of genuine artistic impulses, of which Kelly is largely lacking. Comedy is provided from other sources, though, including a winning performance by Keegan Allen (the less said about James Franco's involvement, however, the better). But King Cobra thus only supplies us viewers with our kicks here and there, and with no lasting impact.

LFF 2016 REVIEW - ELLE (PAUL VERHOEVEN)

Paul Verhoeven remodels the erotic mystery thriller in Elle, a caustic comedy that is far more challenging than you're prepared for. The great director handles this strange, surprising story with a flippancy and a tonal restlessness that resembles less those films in his career to which this bears some similarities as it does that entire career, and suggesting ever further advancements in his artistic and psychological inquiries. Indeed, even Verhoeven's treatment of that story is surprising, bringing bizarre qualities to bracing life yet grounding them in diegesis that he somehow keeps consistently concordant, while putting a fresh, confrontational spin on already-discomfiting material. It's in his interpretation, and his almost alone, that this curious crime drama acquires its singular character, and thus forms a unity in its outlook to that of its protagonist. In that Isabelle Huppert so typically assumes total, inimitable control over her role, she engages in an interpretative collaboration with her director, ever matching Elle's many perverse twists and turns, and enhancing them further, with quirks of her own devising. Control is central to the statements made in Elle that run through its otherwise disparate, disarming lines of interest, proposing provocative solutions to the challenge of defining a woman's identity that will doubtless disgust many. Yet the bold individuality of this fascinating character is such that the objective viewer can only applaud her bravery and her intelligence, and her unyielding dedication to personal fulfilment. In fulfilling our requirements too, as unknown to us as they initially are, Elle deserves every last bit of that applause.

LFF 2016 PREVIEW: ELLE

'Verhoeven is now the same age as Bunuel when he directed That Obscure Object of Desire. May his French period last even longer'

Fernando F. Croce, MUBI's Notebook

'Paul Verhoeven at the height of his artistic powers'

Kenji Fujishima, Movie Mezzanine

'A tour de force turn from Isabelle Huppert'

Lisa Nesselson, Screen Daily

Now how did this happen? Having convinced us all that the Paul Verhoeven we all used to love (or hate) was nowhere to be found, with 2006's Black Book his only credit since 2000's Hollow Man save 2012's low-budget curio Tricked, which itself only arrived in US theatres this February, Paul Verhoeven teams up with David Birke, the writer of such classics as Freeway Killer and 13 Sins for Elle, one of the unexpected critical hits of 2016. Isabelle Huppert stars as a woman who uses her experience of being raped to turn her life around in strange, provocative ways. Huppert received raves when the film opened in Cannes, and it shot to the top of many lists as the frontrunner for the Palme d'Or; its exclusion from the jury awards was just one of several highly controversial decisions reached by George Miller's panel that day. The reception was so strong that Sony Pictures Classics picked the film up in order to give it an awards season run in the US, where it opens on the 11th of November. Its UK theatrical release arrives on the 24th of February, but not after it has screened at the London Film Festival next month, and you can bet it's on my programme!

NYFF ANNOUNCES FULL 2016 SELECTION

The New York Film Festival has announced its full selection for its main slate of films for its 2016 edition. Under-the-radar filmmakers showing at the fest for the first time include Barry Jenkins with Moonlight and Dash Shaw with My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea, already confirmed for a TIFF Vanguard screening as well. They join NYFF vets and renowned auteurs such as Pedro Almodovar with Julieta and Paul Verhoeven with Elle - two of 11 titles from the Cannes Film Festival's top competition lineup this year. Keep an eye out for the announcement of NYFF's sidebar selections - Convergence, NYFF Special Events, Projections, Retrospective, and Spotlight on Documentary - in the near future. NYFF 2016 runs from the 30th of September to the 16th of October. The full main slate lineup is below.

Main Slate
13th (Ava DuVernay) - opening night film
20th Century Women (Mike Mills) - centrepiece film
Aquarius (Kleber Mendonca Filho)
Certain Women (Kelly Reichardt)
Elle (Paul Verhoeven)
Fire at Sea (Gianfranco Rosi)
Graduation (Cristian Mungiu)
Hermia and Helena (Matias Pineiro)
I, Daniel Blake (Ken Loach)
Julieta (Pedro Almodovar)
The Lost City of Z (James Gray) - closing night film
Manchester by the Sea (Kenneth Lonergan)
Moonlight (Barry Jenkins)
My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea (Dash Shaw)
Neruda (Pablo Larrain)
Paterson (Jim Jarmusch)
Personal Shopper (Olivier Assayas)
The Rehearsal (Alison MacLean)
Sieranevada (Cristi Puiu)
Son of Joseph (Eugene Green)
Staying Vertical (Alain Guiraudie)
Things to Come (Mia Hansen-Love)
Toni Erdmann (Maren Ade)
The Unknown Girl (Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne)
Yourself and Yours (Hong Sang Soo)

CANNES 2016: DAY TEN - ELLE

A quick one this. To conclude SOS long-distance report on the performances of the Cannes competition titles this year, here are some notices for Paul Verhoeven's Elle. The final film to screen for critics has closed the festival in fine form, with a surprisingly unbroken line of positive write-ups on the rape revenge film starring Isabelle Huppert. It sure shakes up the competition, and right at the last minute!

Elle enters the Palme Poll with a lofty placement indeed, and looks like a safe bet for several awards, not just one of the top three.

With the announcement of the FIPRESCI prizes, the Critics' Week and Directors' Fortnight polls are now closed. Select titles in these categories remain eligible for the Camera d'Or, l'Oeil d'Or and the Queer Palm, however. The UCR poll will stay open until that section's awards are announced.

THINGS TO COME TRAILER WITH ISABELLE HUPPERT

What is it about Isabelle Huppert? What is it about her that makes me want to just watch and watch her ad infinitum? What is it that she gets, that no other actors seem to get? Here she is in the trailer for Mia Hansen-Love's Things to Come, a trailer which I mightn't have warmed to were it not for her presence (and my appreciation of Hansen-Love's last film, Eden). There does Mme. Huppert again - what is it about her that makes me care about a trailer like this? And just days after appearing in the first trailer for Paul Verhoeven's Elle! And Edith Scob in this one to boot! I can't help but look forward to this film now. Neither US nor UK release dates are yet available.

PAUL VERHOEVEN'S ELLE - TRAILER

As we look ahead to at least a couple more months of dreck at the box office, how enticing to see something like this land on our collective cinephile laps. After his last film, 2012's 55-minute Tricked was largely ignored, Elle represents Paul Verhoeven's return to a bigger stage. The magnificent Isabelle Huppert plays sexual assault survivor Michelle, whose outlook on life becomes radically, dangerously altered in the aftermath of her attack. There's only a French release on the radar, on the 21st of September, suggesting that a summer festival debut may be on the cards. Check out the intriguing, '90s-tinged trailer above.