There are very few directors currently going strong on the 2022 movie scene whose work is as admired and respected as that of filmmaker David Fincher. Getting off to a shaky beginning with 1992’s big-budgeted sequel Alien III, it didn’t take long for this Denver, Colorado native to find firm footing in the very fertile psychological ground in which such masters of film as Alfred Hitchcock and William Friedkin so thoroughly investigated within their own body of work. Seven, The Game, Fight Club, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Zodiac, Gone Girl, The Social Network and Mank all stand as a testament to this 60 year old visionary who has thus far amassed 40 Academy Award nominations for his oft-times disturbing and always brilliant work in the magical world of movies.

According to our House of Cards fanatice over at The Hollywood Reporter, director David Fincher will be the recipient of next year’s César Award from the French Film Academy for lifetime achievement in film. How big of a deal is this? To put it all in perspective, the César is the French equivalent of an Academy Award. The ceremony is set to take place on February 24, 2023 in – where else? – Paris (as in France, not Texas). For all of you Looky-loos, the ceremony will be broadcast via French pay-TV service Canal+.

In a statement touting the upcoming honor, the French Academy said that “David Fincher is one of those rare directors whose entire filmography has become iconic over the years. An outstanding technician, a true visionary, his cinema is hypnotic, cerebral, a source of inspiration for countless artists.”

We up here in the hallowed offices of Vents have long been confirmed Fincher fans. This pundit well recalls plunking down some hard earned-greenbacks during the summer of ‘92 to check out the third chapter in the Alien franchise. Expecting more of the same James Cameron-like action from Aliens, I was confounded to instead have stumbled into a dream-like world that was more Ernst Lubitsch than classic balls-to-the-wall James Cameron. I might have walked into that inky black Syracuse, NY theater as a fan of the Aliens films, but I stumbled out later that same afternoon as a freshly-minted, card-carrying afficionado of an unknown director named David Fincher; I’ve never looked back.

Congratulations on the well-earned honor, David Fincher!