"Seraphine," a biopic about French painter Seraphine de Senlis, swept the Cesar Awards, winning seven, including best picture, screenplay, costumes, sound, photography, décor and lead actress (Yolande Moreau). Previously, Moreau won the same award for "When the Sea Rises" (2004), which she also directed.

Accepting the best-picture prize at France's equivalent to the Oscars, director Martin Provost said, "I would like to thank Seraphine, who disappeared during the 1930s Depression but apparently is getting her luck back from this crisis."

Provost lost the helmers' award to Jean-Francois Richet for "Mesrine" ("Public Enemy Number One"), which lost best picture but also claimed the lead-actor laurels for Vincent Cassel as a gangster. Cassel had been nominated twice in the past ("Read My Lips," "Hate").

Winner of best supporting actor: Jean-Paul Roussillon, "A Christmas Tale." Supporting actress: Elsa Zylberstein, "I've Loved You So Long."

Dustin Hoffman received a special honorary award.

Another Oscar-winning Hollywood actor was present: Sean Penn bestowed the award for best picture, but his own film "Into the Wild" lost the foreign-film category to "Waltz With Bashir" (Israel). Sean Penn, still basking in the glow of his recent Oscar victory, didn't seem to mind his Cesar loss much, though. He had so much fun heading the awards jury at the Cannes Film Festival, he was eager to return to France and be part of the cinema scene again.

Photo: Music Box Films

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