PARIS (Reuters) - A comedy about a young man who worships his mother and whose entire family treats him as a girl since childhood swept five trophies at the French Cesar awards ceremony including Best Film and Best Actor.
Actor and director Guillaume Gallienne plays himself and impersonates his mother - often in the same scene - in the autobiographical film "Me, Myself and Mum", which also took the award for best first film.
Adapted from a popular play, the film follows Gallienne through his childhood and adolescence, from dressing up in women's clothing in his bedroom to heartbreak at a British boarding school and clubbing in the Paris gay scene.
"This Cesar (award) is for my mother," Gallienne said in his acceptance speech at the Cesar ceremony - France's version of the Oscars - in Paris late on Friday.
However, the jury was less enthusiastic about "Blue is the Warmest Colour", a drama about a stormy relationship between two adolescent girls which won the top Palme d'Or award at the Cannes film festival in May.
One of the film's stars, the 20-year-old Adele Exarchopoulos, nevertheless took home an award for best new female actress.
In a boon for paparazzis, actress Julie Gayet made her first public appearance at the ceremony since the tabloid Closer published photos which it said showed President Francois Hollande making visits to her at an apartment in Paris.
The 41-year-old Gayet, who has appeared in French films since the mid-1990s, left with no award, having been bested by actress Adele Haenel for the prize of best female supporting role in the film "Suzanne".
(Reporting By Nicholas Vinocur and Gerard Bon; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)