JacquesAudiard's The Beat That My Heart Skipped leads the nominations for this year's Cesar Awards.

Theremake of James Toback's 1978 film Fingers was nominated in 10 categories, including Best Picture and BestDirector. The film's stars Romain Duris and Niels Arestrup scored nods for Best Actorand Best Supporting Actor respectively, while Linh-Dan Pham was nominated asBest Female Newcomer. (See full list of nominations below)

Otherheavily nominated films include Christian Carion's Merry Christmas, France's entry for theBest Foreign Language Oscar, with a spot in the Best Picture and BestScreenplay categories among others. Also up in the Best Picture slot areJean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne's Palme d'Or winner The Child, Xavier Beauvois' Le Petit Lieutenantand Radu Mihaileanu's Live AndBecome.

BestActors apart from Duris include Michel Bouquet for his titular turn in RobertGuediguian's The Last Mitterand,Patrick Chesnais in Stephane Brize's Je NeSuis Pas La Pour Etre Aime and two actors largelyknown for the comedic roles: Jose Garcia in Costa Gavras' Le Couperetand Benoit Poelvoorde in Anne Fontaine's Entre Ses Mains, both of which showcasethe men's talent for drama.

TheBest Actress nominees are a traditional bunch with Nathalie Baye in Le Petit Lieutenant,Isabelle Carre in Entre Ses Mains, Anne Consigny in Je Ne Suis LaPour Etre Aime, Isabelle Huppert in PatriceChereau's Gabrielleand Valerie Lemercier in her self-directed Palais Royal!

Otherthan Audiard, the Best Director shortlist includes Xavier Beauvois, theDardenne brothers, Michael Haneke for Hidden (Cache) and Milhaileanu.

Inthe foreign film category are David Cronenberg's A History Of Violence, AlejandroAmenabar's The Sea Inside,Match Pointfrom Woody Allen, Clint Eastwood's Oscar winner Million Dollar Baby and Etyan Fox's Tu Marcheras Sur L'Eau.

DocumentaryMarch Of The Penguinsmeanwhile scored nods in the Best First Film section as well as Best OriginalScore, Best Sound and Best Editing.

Ina departure, one category - for Best Film from the European Union -has been scratched with a new award created for Best Adapted Screenplay. TheEuropean Union category was done away with, according to the Academy, becauseof the preponderance of French co-productions now in the mix.

The31st Cesar Awards ceremonywill be held on February 25 in Paris and aired live on Canal Plus.

Best French Film
The Beat That My Heart Skipped(Jacques Audiard)
The Child (Jean Pierre Dardenne,Luc Dardenne)
Merry Christmas (Christian Carion)
Le Petit Lieutenant(Xavier Beauvois)
Live and Become (Radu Mihaileanu)

Best Director
JacquesAudiard (The Beat That My Heart Skipped)
XavierBeauvois (Le Petit Lieutenant)
JeanPierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne (The Child)
MichaelHaneke ( Hidden [Cache])
RaduMihaileanu (Live and Become)

Best Actor
MichelBouquet (The Last Mitterrand)
Patrick Chesnais (Je Ne Suis Pas La Pour Etre Aime)
RomainDuris (The Beat That My Heart Skipped)
JoseGarcia (Le Couperet)
BenoitPoelvoorde (Entre Ses Mains)

Best Actress
NathalieBaye (Le Petit Lieutenant)
IsasbelleCarre (Entre Ses Mains)
Anne Consigny (Je Ne Suis Pas La Pour Etre Aime)
IsabelleHuppert (Gabrielle)
ValerieLermercier (Palais Royal!)

Best Supporting Actor
NielsArestrup (The Beat That My Heart Skipped)
MauriceBenichou (Hidden [Cache])
DanyBoon (Merry Christmas)
GeorgesWilson (Je Ne Suis Pas La Pour Etre Aime)
RoschdyZem (Le Petit Lieutenant)

Best supporting actress
CatherineDeneuve (Palais Royal!)
Cecilede France (Russian Dolls)
NoemieLvovsky (Backstage)
CharlotteRampling (Lemming)
KellyReilly (Russian Dolls)

Best Male Newcomer
WalidAfkir, (Hidden [Cache])
LouisGarrel (Les Amants Reguliers)
AdrienJolivet (Zim and Co)
GillesLellouche (Ma Vie En L'Air)
AymenSaidi (Saint Jacques...La Mecque)

Best Female Newcomer
MelanieDoutey (Il Ne Faut Jurer De Rien!)
DeborahFrancois (The Child)
MarinaHands (Les Ames Grises)
Linh-Dan Pham (The Beat That My Heart Skipped)
FannyValette (La Petite Jeusalem)

Best First Film
Anthony Zimmer (Jerome Salle)
Le Cauchemar De Darwin (Hubert Sauper)
Douches Froides (Anthony Cordier)
March Of The Penguins (Luc Jacquet)
La Petite Jerusalem (Karin Albou)

Best Original Screenplay
XavierBeauvois, Guillaume Breaud, Jean-Eric Troubat (Le Petit Lieutenant)
ChristianCarion (Merry Christmas)
JeanPierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne, The Child
MichaelHaneke (Hidden [Cache])
RaduMihaileanu, Alain-Michel Blanc (Live andBecome)

Best Adaptation
JacquesAudiard, Tonino Benacquista (The Beat ThatMy Heart Skipped)
PatriceChereau, Anne-Louise Trividic (Gabrielle)
ConstantinCosta-Gavras, Jean-Claude Grumberg (LeCouperet)
Anne Fontaine, Julien Boivent (Entre Ses Mains)
GillesTaurant Georges-Marc Benamou (The LastMitterrand )

Best Original Score
ArmandAmar (Live and Become)
AlexandreDesplat (The Beat That My Heart Skipped)
PhilippeRombi (Merry Christmas)
EmilieSimon (March Of The Penguins)

Best Cinematography
StephaneFontaine (The Beat That My Heart Skipped)
EricGautier (Gabrielle)
WilliamLubtchansky (Les Amants Reguliers)

Best Set Design
LoulaMorin (Les Ames Grises)
OlivierRadot (Gabrielle)
Jean-MichelSimonet (Merry Christmas)

Best Sound
LaurentQuaglio, Gerard Lamps (March Of ThePenguins)
GuillaumeSciama, Benoit Hillebrant, Olivier Do Huu (Gabrielle)
BrigitteTaillandier, Pascal Villard, Cyril Holtz, Philippe Amouroux, (The Beat That My Heart Skipped)

Best Costumes
PascalineChavanne (Les Ames Grises)
Alison Forbes-Meyler (MerryChristmas)
Caroliende Vivaise (Gabrielle)

Best Editing
SabineEmiliani (March Of The Penguins)
FrancineSandberg (Russian Dolls)
JulietteWelfling, (The Beat That My Heart Skipped)

Best Short Film
After Shave (Hany Tamba)
Obras (Hendrick Dussollier)
La Peur, Petit Chasseur (Laurent Achard)
Sous Le Bleu (David Oelhoffen)

Best Foreign Film
A History Of Violence (DavidCronenberg)
The Sea Inside (Alejandro Amenabar)
Match Point (Woody Allen)
Million Dollar Baby (Clint Eastwood)
Tu Marcheras Sur L'Eau(Eytan Fox)