The Artist an enormously satisfying winner at the BAFTAs
Simon and Garfunkel waxed lyrical about the sound of silence and the same principle applied to the 2011 BAFTA ceremony. In what was a largely predictable but heartening show, silent movie pastiche The Artist swept the board – winning seven awards, including Best Film, Best Director (Michel Hazanavicius) and Best Actor (Jean Dujardin).
Predictable though The Artist’s success was, it was also enormously satisfying. It’s wonderful to see a film in love with the medium of cinema doing so well – this is filmmaking with a purpose, made with care, compassion and a big heart. It’s no pompous, awards-baiting showcase – simply a massive feel-good experience that reminds us why we enjoy going to the pictures in the first place.
The other nominees were carried along in its wake but there were several satisfying developments. Tomas Alfredson’s Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy deservedly won Best Adapted Screenplay (Peter Straughan’s elegy to late wife and writing partner Bridget O’Connor, a moving highlight of the evening); and Outstanding British Film. The Actor award was Gary Oldman’s to lose but Meryl Streep was a shoe-in for The Iron Lady (and a shoe off when it came to her speech). A braver decision would have been Tilda Swinton for We Need to Talk About Kevin but Meryl was pretty much a lock.
Asif Kapadia’s tremendous documentary Senna was awarded Best Documentary and Best Editing – making up for its disgraceful snub from the Oscars. Pedro Almodovar’s The Skin I Live In won Best Foreign Feature and Rango, Best Animated Feature – both satisfying wins. Disappointingly, Rise of the Planet of the Apes lost out on Special Visual Effects to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II – surely, if any film last year used effects to advance the storyline, it was the former?
Perhaps the most controversial win (at least to this reviewer) was Adam Deacon’s for the Orange Rising Star. That he received more public votes than the likes of Tom Hiddleston (whose output in 2011 was outstanding) is distressing, especially when one considers the witless Anuvahood (in which Deacon was star, co-writer and co-director) was one of the worst films of last year.
Away from that onerous, irritating inclusion, the awards stayed largely on track, culminating in a rousing Fellowship win for Martin Scorsese. Hugo had to be content with a clutch of technical awards but the celebration of Scorsese’s career made for a resounding capper to the evening. And on the basis of their hilarious podium double-act, the new partnership between Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe can’t come soon enough (Les Miserables is due for release at the start of next year).
The Full List of Nominees and Winners
BEST FILM
The Artist
The Descendants
Drive
The Help
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM
My Week With Marilyn
Senna
Shame
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
We Need To Talk About Kevin
OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER
Attack The Block – Joe Cornish (Director/Writer)
Black Pond – Will Sharpe (Director/Writer), Tom Kingsley (Director), Sarah Brocklehurst (Producer)
Coriolanus – Ralph Fiennes (Director)
Submarine – Richard Ayoade (Director/Writer)
Tyrannosaur – Paddy Considine (Director), Diarmid Scrimshaw (Producer)
FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
Incendies
Pina
Potiche
A Separation
The Skin I Live In
DOCUMENTARY
George Harrison: Living In The Material World
Project Nim
Senna
ANIMATED FILM
The Adventures Of Tintin: The Secret Of The Unicorn
Arthur Christmas
Rango
DIRECTOR
Michel Hazanavicius – The Artist
Nicolas Winding Refn – Drive
Martin Scorsese – Hugo
Tomas Alfredson – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Lynne Ramsay – We Need To Talk About Kevin
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Michel Hazanavicius – The Artist
Annie Mumolo, Kristen Wiig – Bridesmaids
John Michael McDonagh – The Guard
Abi Morgan – The Iron Lady
Woody Allen – Midnight In Paris
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash – The Descendants
Tate Taylor – The Help
George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Beau Willimon – The Ides Of March
Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin – Moneyball
Bridget O’Connor, Peter Straughan – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
LEADING ACTOR
Brad Pitt – Moneyball
Gary Oldman – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
George Clooney – The Descendants
Jean Dujardin – The Artist
Michael Fassbender – Shame
LEADING ACTRESS
Berenice Bejo – The Artist
Meryl Streep – The Iron Lady
Michelle Williams – My Week with Marilyn
Tilda Swinton – We Need to Talk About Kevin
Viola Davis – The Help
SUPPORTING ACTOR
Christopher Plummer – Beginners
Jim Broadbent – The Iron Lady
Jonah Hill – Moneyball
Kenneth Branagh – My Week with Marilyn
Philip Seymour Hoffman – The Ides of March
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Carey Mulligan – Drive
Jessica Chastain – The Help
Judi Dench – My Week with Marilyn
Melissa McCarthy – Bridesmaids
Octavia Spencer – The Help
ORIGINAL MUSIC
The Artist – Ludovic Bource
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo – Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross
Hugo – Howard Shore
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – Alberto Iglesias
War Horse – John Williams
CINEMATOGRAPHY
The Artist – Guillaume Schiffman
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo – Jeff Cronenweth
Hugo – Robert Richardson
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – Hoyte van Hoytema
War Horse – Janusz Kaminski
EDITING
The Artist – Anne-Sophie Bion, Michel Hazanavicius
Drive – Mat Newman
Hugo – Thelma Schoonmaker
Senna – Gregers Sall, Chris King
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – Dino Jonsater
PRODUCTION DESIGN
The Artist – Laurence Bennett, Robert Gould
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2 – Stuart Craig, Stephenie McMillan
Hugo – Dante Ferretti, Francesca Lo Schiavo
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – Maria Djurkovic, Tatiana MacDonald
War Horse – Rick Carter, Lee Sandales
COSTUME DESIGN
The Artist – Mark Bridges
Hugo – Sandy Powell
Jane Eyre – Michael O’Connor
My Week With Marilyn – Jill Taylor
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – Jacqueline Durran
MAKE UP & HAIR
The Artist – Julie Hewett, Cydney Cornell
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2 – Amanda Knight, Lisa Tomblin Hugo – Morag Ross, Jan Archibald
The Iron Lady – Marese Langan, Mark Coulier, J. Roy Helland
My Week With Marilyn – Jenny Shircore
SOUND
The Artist – Nadine Muse, Gérard Lamps, Michael Krikorian
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows – Part 2 – James Mather, Stuart Wilson, Stuart Hilliker, Mike Dowson, Adam Scrivener
Hugo – Philip Stockton, Eugene Gearty, Tom Fleischman, John Midgley
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – John Casali, Howard Bargroff, Doug Cooper, Stephen Griffiths, Andy Shelley
War Horse – Stuart Wilson, Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom Johnson, Richard Hymns
SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS
The Adventures Of Tintin: The Secret Of The Unicorn – Joe Letteri
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2 - Tim Burke, John Richardson, Greg Butler, David Vickery
Hugo – Rob Legato, Ben Grossman, Joss Williams
Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes – Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White
War Horse – Ben Morris, Neil Corbould
SHORT ANIMATION
Abuelas
Bobby Yeah
A Morning Stroll
SHORT FILM
Chalk
Mwansa The Great
Only Sound Remains
Pitch Black Heist
Two And Two
THE ORANGE WEDNESDAYS RISING STAR AWARD (voted for by the public)
Adam Deacon
Chris Hemsworth
Chris O’Dowd
Eddie Redmayne
Tom Hiddleston
