The Coen brothers bring their trademark humor to the Lumière Awards, thanking and insulting the inventors of cinema.

Joel and Ethan Coen took the stage to accept the Lumiere Award at the Lyon Lumière Film Festival on Friday night, celebrating four decades of filmmaking with an irreverent tribute to the inventors of cinema, performing Gypsy Kings' Spanish-language version of Hotel California. From Lumières to invent […]

Javier Bardem pays tribute to the Oscar-winning filmmakers with stories from No Country for Old Men, as musical performances and on-stage antics mark Lyon's celebration.

"Thank the Lumières for inventing the film camera, or we'd be damned," Ethan joked. RELATED STORIES 'Musk' Director Alex Gibney Confirms Universal Is Faltering On Overseas Release Scheduling, Says He Tried To Interview Elon Musk: 'His Response Was To Write 'Gibney Is A Douche.' Doc Stories Unveils 12th Annual Film List (Exclusive)

The choice of music itself was a reference to Coen's cult comedy The Big Lebowski, which starred John Turturro's flamboyant Jesus Quintana. Popular in Variety

The star-studded gathering included Javier Bardem, Frances McDormand, former Lumiere winner Wim Wenders, Robert Eggers, Michel Hazanavicius and Bernice Bejou, Benoit Magimel, Antoine de Koon and Caleb Deschanel, in town for a masterclass and a Lake-Motion-e-Egers highlight. "Wildwood."

Accepting the award, Joel reflected on four decades of filmmaking with his brother. We did this because we love cinema and we love storytelling, he said. "We have, with almost certain exceptions, been anything but entertaining with these movies over the decades."

Bardem, who won an Academy Award for his rousing portrayal of Anton Chigurh in "A Country for Old Men," delivered one of the most colorful tributes of the night, recalling how he initially tried to turn down the role despite being a longtime admirer of the Coens.

"I sat down with them in their office in New York and said, 'Listen, I admire you, I adore you, you're amazing, but I hate violence, I don't drive and I can barely speak English,'" Bardem recalled. What the hell am I doing here?"

"They didn't give me any reason to make the film. They just laughed," he said. "I thought, 'I don't know what this experience will be like, but I know it won't be stressful.' So yeah, let's do it."

Ethan had another story about Bardem's commitment to the role. The actor had decided his character should be pale, he recalls, so during the mostly outdoor shoot, a young production assistant accompanied him to the set holding a light blue umbrella over his head. "And he wonders why we laughed at him," Ethan joked.

The actor's tribute took a more heartfelt turn when he reflected on what working with the brothers meant to him. "What they gave me was a masterpiece and the gift of a personal and professional life," Bardem said. "They made a dream come true. Ten years after I said it would never happen, it happened, even better than I imagined."

The night also included musical tributes, with the French singer-songwriter performing Charles Aznavour's "Parce que tu crois," chosen by Joel Coen as his favorite song. Five-time Grammy Award winner Angelique Quijote performed Jacques Brel's "Ne me quitte pas," one of Bardem's favorites.

The tribute was also timely with the 1997 screening of Ettore Scola's short film 1997-1943, which follows a young Jewish boy who flees the Nazis in wartime Rome and takes refuge in a movie theater. After five decades of Italian cinema on the screen, this boy is getting old. The film ends in 1997 with a young African boy fleeing persecution to the same theater, drawing parallels between the past and the present.

Bardem received the message of the film and emphasized its importance. "It will never be again for everyone, from Congo to Sudan to Palestine," he said.

Joel also praised Lyon's film-loving community and the festival's commitment to a shared cinema experience, praising audiences who still "enjoy being in a dark room with a lot of people and seeing it on a big screen."

Since making their debut with the neo-noir thriller Blood Simple in 1984, Joel and Ethan Coen have created one of the most distinctive screenplays in American cinema, including the crime comedy Raising Arizona, the cult favorite The Big Lebowski, the Depression-era musical Ou Brotherodys. Western anthology "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs".

Their 2007 thriller Country for Old Men won four Oscars, including best picture, best director, best adapted screenplay and best supporting actor for Bardem, while Fargo earned the brothers their first Oscar for original screenplay in 1997.

At Cannes, their notable run began in 1991, when Barton Fink won the Palme d'Or for Best Director and Best Actor for John Turturro. They won best director in 1996 for "Fargo" and "The Man Who Wasn't There" in 2001, while "Inside Llewyn Davis" won the big prize in 2013. In 2015, they returned to Croisette as presidents of the festival jury.

Friday's honor makes Joel and Ethan the second filmmaking couple to receive the Lumière Award, following Belgian brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Darden in 2020. Previous recipients include Clint Eastwood, Quentin Tarantino, Pedro Almodovar, Martin Scorsese, Catherine Deneuve, Francis Furong. Campion, Tim Burton, Wim Wenders, Isabel Huppert and Michael Mann.

The Lumiere Film Festival ends on Sunday, October 18.