France's annual celebration of cinema, Les Cesars, was hoping for renewal on Friday after a bitter fall-out last year over the industry's response to the #MeToo movement. The entire board of the Cesar Academy resigned in the build-up to the 2020 ceremony after Roman Polanski, who has faced multiple sexual assault allegations and is wanted in the United States for the statutory rape of a 13-year-old girl in 1977, received the most nominations, for his film An Officer and a Spy. The night itself was perhaps the most fractious in French cinema history, with stars walking out of the ceremony when Polanski, who was not present, won best director and best screenplay, and police using tear gas against protesters outside. For many the academy's choices underlined the reluctance to face up to historical abuse in the French film industry. There were many who wondered whether the awards show would take place at all this year, given the added mood-killer of the pandemic. But despite a few weeks' delay, it is back – albeit with strictly limited attendance that will include only the nominees and presenters. "It's at funerals that we laugh the most," joked this year's master of...