Accepting the César Award for Best Actress for her performance in “Elle,” Isabelle Huppert told the ceremony’s crowd, “I’m good every year, but this year you finally noticed!” According to The Hollywood Reporter, Huppert was referencing the 15 César nominations she’s accrued throughout her career — and the fact that’s only won once before in 1996 for “La Cérémonie”— but she might as well have been speaking for all women in film. They’ve been good every year and deserve some recognition.

The 42nd annual César Awards, which took place Friday at the Salle Pleyel in Paris, was an especially good one for women. “Divines,” Houda Benyamina’s coming-of-age story about a young woman (Oulaya Amamra) who begins dealing drugs with her best friend (Déborah Lukumuena), took home three prizes. Amamra and Lukumuena won for Best New Actress and Best Supporting Actress, respectively, while Benyamina accepted the prize for Best First Film.

In an interview with Women and Hollywood, Benyamina said, “Like the rest of the world, French cinema is misogynist, white, and ‘bourgeois.’” “You can see the effects of injustice in fiction films where there is a lack of ‘interesting’ female characters,” she added. “[With ‘Divines,’] we wanted to reverse the codes and destroy the regular clichés. In ‘Divines,’ the female character fights to succeed whereas Djigui, the male character, has the part that normally falls to women in love.”

Benyamina wasn’t the only one breaking patterns at France’s answer to the Oscars. Women also dominated the writing categories. Solveig Anspach received the César for Best Original Screenplay for the romantic comedy “The Aquatic Effect,” which she wrote with Jean-Luc Gaget. Meanwhile, Celine Sciamma won Best Adapted Screenplay for “My Life as a Zucchini,” an animated film about a young boy’s experiences in a foster home.

As mentioned, Huppert was honored with the top acting prize for women for her work in “Elle,” which the Césars named Best Film. Directed by Paul Verhoeven, the controversial thriller centers on Michele (Huppert), a rape survivor who plans to take revenge on her assailant.

According to THR, this year’s ceremony “took place without its usual president.” Roman Polanski was originally set to serve as this year’s president, but eventually declined when his appointment sparked protest. Citing the statutory rape Polanski pled guilty to in 1977 — and his avoidance of sentencing ever since — women’s group Osez le Féminisme organized a boycott of the César Awards in January. Calling his title a “snub” to survivors of rape and sexual assault, Osez’s Claire Serre-Combe told the Agence France-Presse, “The quality of [Polanski’s] work counts for nothing when confronted with the crime he committed, his escape from justice, and his refusal to face up to his responsibilities.”

Check out all of the female César Award winners below. List adapted from The Hollywood Reporter.

Best Actress — Isabelle Huppert, Elle

Best Supporting Actress — Deborah Lukumuena, Divines

Best New Actress — Oulaya Amamra, Divines

Best Original Screenplay — Solveig Anspach (with Jean-Luc Gaget), The Aquatic Effect

Best Adapted Screenplay — Celine Sciamma, My Life as a Zucchini

Best First Film — Divines by Houda Benyamina

Best Costumes — Anais Romand, The Dancer