MOVIES - March 4, 1996

Up at No. 1: “Up Close and Personal,” the romance that pairs Michelle Pfeiffer and Robert Redford, proved the adage “love conquers all”--at least at the box office during the weekend. The new release from Disney’s Touchstone Pictures opened in the top spot with an estimated $11.5-million weekend gross, replacing the action films that have dominated in recent weeks. Early industry estimates also showed that another newcomer was taking second place: 20th Century Fox’s “Down Periscope,” a comedy starring Kelsey Grammer as a submarine commander, garnered $7.5 million. New Line’s “Rumble in the Bronx,” starring action phenom Jackie Chan, fell to third place with $6.4 million from first a weekend earlier. 20th Century Fox’s “Broken Arrow” was at No. 4 with $5.8 million and Universal’s “Happy Gilmore” came in fifth with $4.7 million.

*

It’s Cesar, Not Oscar: The French film “La Haine” (Hate), an anti-police tale of brutality and alienation in France’s urban ghettos, won the best film award at France’s answer to the Oscars, the Cesars, on Saturday. French director Mathieu Kassovitz’s black-and-white film was awarded the Cesar at a ceremony in Paris. French director Claude Sautet won the Cesar for best director for “Nelly et M. Arnaud,” about the relationship between a divorced former judge and a young woman. Michel Serrault, who played the judge, took the Cesar for best actor. Best actress went to Isabelle Huppert for her role in “La Ceremonie.”