Dueling Saint Laurents: Both Gaspard Ulliel (l) in “Saint Laurent” and Pierre Niney (r) in “Yves Saint Laurent” were nominated best actor, but only Ulliel's film was nominated best film. Between them, they split four supporting nominations.

The nominees for the 40th annual Césars were announced the other day, and the big news on this side was that Kristen Stewart became the first American actress to receive a César nomination since Julia Migenes did so in “Carmen” in 1984. Me, I found it interesting that “Saint Laurent,” a biopic of fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent from 1967 to 1976, received the most nominations, 10, followed closely by “Yves Saint Laurent,” a biopic of the fashion designer from 1958 onward, which received seven. The two movies don't seem to be related, either, in the way of, say, “Mesrine” a few years back. Just how much Yves can one country take? A lot, apparently.

“Les Combattants” sounds interesting to me (nine noms), while I'm there for anything Olivier Assayas directs. Seriously, if any of these films showed up at SIFF, I would be there. A Césars Night at SIFF would be fun. 

The Césars will be broadcast on February 20, two days before the Oscars.