It was all about prison and a see-through dress...

Luckily, or not, depending on how you look at it, my weekend's activities included neither of these excitements. But after the 35th Annual César Film Awards (think Oscars with a French accent), these are the hot topics of conversation I'm sure are making the rounds of water-coolers throughout the country today.

Un Prophète, directed by Jacques Audiard, swept the awards, including best film, best director, best actor and best screenplay. The film, which had already received high praise at the Cannes Festival earlier this year, is also up for an Oscar for best foreign-language film.

Un Prophète tells the story of Malik El Djebena (played by Tahar Rahim), a 19-year old Arab man who has been sent to prison for 6 years for an assault on police. He is taken under the wing of fellow inmate Cesar Luciani (played by Niels Arestrup), head of the Corsican mafia gang, who pretty much rule the prisoners. After doing some of Luciani's dirty work, Malik, who teaches himself how to read while in prison, begins to make his own dangerous power play. The result is an almost art-house French gangster film, dealing with cultural identities and marginalisation; in other words, French society today.

On a lighter note, the other senasational story of the night, particularly for the male viewer, was the transparent YSL dress worn by Laetitia Casta. This reminds me of the Versace safety-pin dress worn by Elizabeth Hurley to the premier of 'Four Weddings and a Funeral' back in 1994.

I wonder just how much hemming and hawing was involved before this dress was chosen. Gives new meaning to the term Little Black Dress, non?