When the César Awards inexplicably presented Roman Polanski with the best director prize at its 45th edition February 28, actress Adèle Haenel, her “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” director Céline Sciamma, and more were not afraid to voice their displeasure. In fact, they walked out of the ceremony in disgust. Outside, activists protested the Césars’ recognition of Polanski and clashed with the police. Many people from inside and outside the French film industry pushed back against Polanski and the system that has long supported him on Friday night. Even though Polanski’s latest film, “An Officer and a Spy,” took home three prizes, the 2020 Césars will be remembered as the awards show in which women, feminists, and activists had had enough.

Haenel, who recently said, “Distinguishing Polanski is spitting in the face of all victims. It means raping women isn’t that bad,” mouthed the French word for “shame” and waved her arm in anger as she left the ceremony. With Sciamma at her side, she also shouted, “Well done, pedophilia!”

A l'annonce du César de la Meilleure Réalisation pour Roman Polanski ("J'accuse"), Adèle Haenel quitte la salle.

Le meilleur des #César2020 > https://t.co/ipnVwouBeV pic.twitter.com/7xa0CTbU3H

— CANAL+ (@canalplus) February 28, 2020

« Vive la pédophilie, Bravo la pédophilie »… Adèle Haenel a laissé éclater sa colère en quittant la cérémonie des César ce soir salle Pleyel, furieuse de la remise de deux César à Roman Polanski pour son film « J’accuse ». Images: @SmithReporter
—-#césar2020 @adelehaenel pic.twitter.com/qfsRa37P1Y

— Paris Match (@ParisMatch) February 29, 2020

Haenel was referring to Polanski’s guilty plea of statutory rape of a 13-year-old girl in 1977. “After serving less than half of a 90-day jail stay for psychiatric evaluation, the director … was released. When a judge ordered him to complete the stay before being deported, Polanski fled the country,” the Los Angeles Times recounts. Last fall, photographer Valentine Monnier accused him of raping her when she was 18. “At least six women have accused the now-86-year-old of sexually assaulting them in separate incidents from 1970 to 1983, when they were between 10 and 16 years old,” the source notes.

Apparently Haenel, Sciamma, and their fellow walk-outs weren’t the only ones unhappy with Polanski’s win. Le Monde reported that “very few” people applauded when his best director award was announced.

Meanwhile, protesters were demonstrating outside the ceremony. “The French police fired tear gas outside the Paris concert hall hosting the César Film Awards in a clash with people protesting the director,” per the New York Times. “Protesters also pulled down a safety barrier outside the venue, but the police pushed them back, so they did not make it onto the red carpet.” Other activists held signs with language such as, “Shame on an industry that protects rapists.”

The backlash against Polanski — not to mention sexism in the French film industry overall — is nothing new. Feminist collective JaccusePolanski penned an open letter to the European Film Academy urging them not to recognize “An Officer and a Spy” prior to its 32nd annual nominations. Haenel revealed she was harassed for years by director Christophe Ruggia, beginning when she was 12, which led to the French culture ministry and film board introducing new guidelines to combat sexual misconduct and violence. On February 13, the French Academy of Cinema Arts and Sciences, the board overseeing the Césars, confirmed an “en-masse resignation” following the 2020 awards. According to the LA Times, this decision was made in response to “severe criticism following its 12 nominations for the box-office hit ‘Officer,’ as well as ongoing displeasure over its low female membership (two-thirds of the 4,700-member group is male), lack of transparency, and other issues.”

As for the elephant in the room himself, Polanski did not make an appearance at the César Awards. He didn’t want to deal with the “public lynching.” “We know how this evening will unfold already,” Polanski stated, per the NYT. “What place can there be in such deplorable conditions for a film about the defense of truth, the fight for justice, blind hate, and anti-Semitism?” Yes, because that’s what the demonstrators were protesting — not his history of predatory sexual behavior or his refusal to accept the consequences for his crimes.

Turning to the actual awards, they thankfully weren’t all WTF moments. “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” DP Claire Mathon, who was shamefully snubbed at this year’s Oscars, won the trophy for best cinematography. Yolande Zauberman’s “M,” a portrait of an abused child singing prodigy, was named best documentary. Mounia Meddour received the best first film prize for “Papicha,” the story of a young woman organizing a fashion show in 1997 Algiers.