Lady Chatterley's Lover wins French film awards

PARIS, Feb 25 (Reuters) ''Lady Chatterley's Lover'', a French film version of D H Lawrence's groundbreaking novel of sexual passion, beat the Oscar-nominated wartime drama ''Days of Glory'' to claim France's top cinema awards yesterday.

''Lady Chatterley's Lover'' made up for a modest performance at the box office by scooping the award for best film ahead of the widely-tipped ''Days of Glory'' at the Cesars, France's answer to the Academy Awards.

Its young star Marina Hands was named best actress and the film, directed by Pascale Ferran, also won awards for photography, costumes and for its adapted scenario to claim five Cesars in all.

The thriller ''Ne le dis a personne'' (''Tell no one'') was the other main winner of the evening, with a best director award for Guillaume Canet and a best actor award for Francois Cluzet as a doctor searching for the truth about his missing wife.

The ceremony at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris included special tributes to the actor Philippe Noiret and the director Gerard Oury, who both died last year.

''Days of Glory'', the story of North African soldiers serving in the French army in World War Two, is nominated for best Foreign language film at the Academy Awards on Sunday. It had to be content with the Cesar for best original scenario.

The awards come after a generally successful year for French cinema, although by far the most successful film, Les Bronzes III, a broad farce about a hapless group of French holidaymakers, did not feature in the prizes.

Although the awards are heavily focused on French cinema, British actor Jude Law won a special achievement award and made his speech of thanks in French.

There was also an award for best foreign film for ''Little Miss Sunshine'', which is in the running for the best film prize at the Academy Awards today.

The award for best documentary went to ''Dans la peau de Jacques Chirac'' (''Being Jacques Chirac'') a ''mockumentary'' satirising the president.

French cinema had a bumper year in 2006, with some 85 million tickets sold for locally made films, the highest number in 22 years, and profitability at its most healthy in at least a decade, according to industry publication le film francais.

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