From the beginning, 34 years ago, the Cesars wanted to be the French version of the glamorous Hollywood Oscars.

Although both events are similar in many ways, they also each convey a different idea of what cinema should be. French cultural magazine Télérama recently underlined this fact in an article, in which it said, "The [Cesars] can promote one cinematographic vision against another: Couscous versus the blockbuster biopic La Vie en Rose in 2008.” Couscous was a small-budget movie which won last year's Cesar for the best film.

In 2009, will it be Welcome to the Land of Shtis, viewed by a record twenty million spectators so far, versus Séraphine, a small budget biopic on a 19th-20th century French female painter?

The French Film Academy decided to nominate ‘The Shtis’ only in the category of Best 2009 Screenplay - a controversial decision that has turned many fans of the movie against film critics accused of disdaining the public’s taste.

This light comedy, which takes place in Northern France, depicts the everyday lives of the ‘Shtis’ (in Northerner dialect it's a nickname meaning ‘small’) and met incredible success among the French public.

“Success brings jealousy. People say: he is successful, he has got everything, why then should he get all the prizes as well”, says Dany Boon, the French comedian who wrote, directed and coproduced ‘Shtis’. He also had a principal role in it.

Boon would like to see a Best Comedy prize category established in the Cesars. It seems the Academy took note of his wish as they say a Best Comedy prize will be on offer in 2010.

Polemic with a taste of social class struggle

The acting and film profession is divided over the row. Actor Jean Reno, the main actor in the movie,  who had himself experienced a lack of recognition from his peers after the success of ‘The Visitors’ in 1993 (13.8 million viewers at the box-office), understands why Dany Boon wants to boycott Friday's ceremony.

But film director Luc Besson ('Fifth Element, Big Blue') said in one interview, “The film clearly does not deserve to be nominated in many categories”.

On a number of websites covering the controversy since mid-February, web users express their anger at what they think is part of a broader struggle between the Parisian bourgeois elite versus the humbler provincial people.

“I found the Cesars snobbish and it reminds us that we are not from the same world," wrote Vlaams59, a Northerner web user, on the TV guide online Télé-2-semaine on Feb. 25. “But I just want to remind them that the two French films which sold the most entrances were two comedies ('Don't Look Now, We've Been Shot at' from 1966, and 'Welcome to the Land of Shtis'). It is about time the ‘intellectuals’, as they call themselves, think and see that people prefer popular light comedy."

“One more illustration of the existing gap between the public and the elite? Not that simple,” counters the local daily La Voix du Nord. “Some other popular films which attracted many viewers are in the competition ('Mesrine', 'The First Day of the Rest of Your Life'). And no one has ever called ‘the Shtis’ a masterpiece.”

What are the Cesars for?

According to economic studies conducted in the United States and cited in Telerama’s article, an Oscar nomination is a lucrative business, and an award is obviously even better. Same with the Cesars.

It's hard to believe that that is Boon’s main motivation to be part of the competition. A northerner himself, Boon was 2008's best paid actor, making 26 million euros, according a ranking published in French daily Le Figaro.

“What are the Cesars for?” asks the Quotidiennes’ blog. “To reward films that attracted viewers? Or to promote less popular pieces which, without exposure, would go unnoticed?”

"Let’s remind France’s most preferred Northerner that there exists a ceremony that rewards the number of viewers: The French Film trophies, which this year went to 'Welcome to the Land of Shtis',” writes Eleonore Gerra on 'Comme au cinema' website.

Meanwhile, Dany Boon said he would watch the Cesars, just  like 2.4 million French people did last year. But on TV.