'Lady Chatterley's Lover' Wins 5 Cesars

French actress Marina Hands poses with the best actress award for 'Lady Chatterley' during the French film awards ceremony The Cesars at the photo call, Saturday, Feb. 24, 2007. (AP Photo/Jacques Brinon) (Jacques Brinon - AP)

PARIS -- An adaptation of D.H. Lawrence's "Lady Chatterley's Lover" was named France's best film of 2006 and landed four other honors at the Cesar awards Saturday, the French equivalent of the Oscars.

"Lady Chatterley," directed by Pascale Ferran, traces the story of the wife of a paralyzed wealthy landowner who finds her passions awakened by a gamekeeper.

Marina Hands, as the lady in question, won best actress and the film also won awards for best adaptation, best costumes and best cinematography.

"Indigenes" _ which was released in the United States as "Days of Glory" _ scored only one Cesar, best original screenplay, despite nine nominations. The film, about soldiers from French colonies in Africa who helped liberate France from the Nazis in World War II, is nominated for an Oscar for best foreign film.

"Little Miss Sunshine," the tale of a family's road trip to a children's beauty pageant, landed the award for best foreign film. It's also nominated for a best-picture Oscar.

The Cesar for best actor went to Francois Cluzet for "Ne le dis a personne," or "Don't Tell Anyone," a suspense film centered on a man searching for an ex-lover long believed dead whom he rediscovers on the Internet. Guillaume Canet won the best director award for the film.

"In the Skin of Jacques Chirac," a look at the French president and his four-decade political life, was named best documentary film. Chirac, 74, is likely to wrap up his 12-year presidential career after elections in May.