Un frère (1997)

Actress Emma de Caunes nabbed France’s prestigious César award for Best Actress for her role in Sylvie Verheyde’s internationally acclaimed drama Un frère (1997). Translated as The Brother, the film explores the unique sibling rivalry that exists between Loic (Jeannick Gravelines), a promiscuous art photographer, and his sister, Sophie (de Caunes), an innocent beauty still coming to terms with her sexuality. When Sophie begins a clandestine affair with Loic’s business partner, her brother rebels in a fit of forbidden jealousy, lashing out at his sister with surprising fury. It’s hard to believe that De Caunes’s stimulating sex scenes didn’t have a highly influential effect on the César jury; the alluring young actress is as fetching as they come in the scene where she screws the afternoon away with her lucky suitor.