Last night's Oscars opened with a buzz of excitement. After an austere year in 2012, glamour was back in a big way, with dazzling diamonds and some stunning gowns on display on the red carpet. Ben Affleck was in buoyant mood when he arrived, despite having been overlooked in the Best Director category - and wth good reason, as it turned out, because his CIA drama Argo went on to win Best Picture. In a surprise move that was perhaps in keeping with the film's themes, the award was introduced by Michelle Obama on a live link from the White House. Argo also picked up the prizes for Editing and Best Adapted Screenplay.
Best Director went to Ang Lee for Life Of Pi, which was, overall, the most successful film of the night, picking up a total of four awards. It beat off tough competition from Skyfall and Anna Karenina in the Cinematography category and also won Best Visual Effects. Sadly, the company behind those effects, Rhythm And Hues, is now facing bankruptcy. Employees angry about how they have been treated by the industry protested outside the ceremony and the Life Of Pi team spoke in support of them when receiving their awards, but were cut off as they did so.
There was no surprise in the Best Actor category, with bookies' favourite Daniel Day-Lewis becoming the only actor ever to have won it three times (previously for My Left Foot and There Will Be Blood). Jennifer Lawrence was the victor in the hotly contested Best Actress category, and was thrilled with her prize despite a stumble on the way up to the stage. Best Supporting Actress went to Anne Hathaway, who spoke emotionally about her characer and her hope that, one day, the kind of suffering depicted in Les Misérables will exist only in fiction; and Best Actor went to Christoph Waltz, the second time he's won for a Quentin Tarantino film. Tarantino himself picked up the Best Original Screenplay award for Django Unchained.
Those awards in full:-
Best Picture - Argo
Best Director - Ang Lee, Life Of Pi
Best Actor - Daniel Day Lewis, Lincoln
Best Actress - Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
Best Supporting Actress - Anne Hathaway, Les Misérables
Best Supporting Actor - Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained
Best Animated Feature Film - Brave
Best Documentary - Searching For Sugar Man
Best Foreign Language Film - Amour
Best Cinematography - Claudio Miranda, Life Of Pi
Best Ediing - Argo
Best Original Screenplay - Quentin Tarantino, Django Unchained
Best Adapted Screenplay - Chris Terrio, Argo
Best Short Film - Curfew
Best Documentary Short - Inocente
Best Animated Short - Paperman
Best Production Design - Lincoln
Best Visual Effects - Life Of Pi
Best Costume Design - Jacqueline Durran, Anna Karenina
Best Make-Up And Hairstyling - Les Misérables
Best Sound Editing - Zero Dark Thirty and Skyfall - a tie!
Best Sound Mixing - Les Misérables
Best Original Score - Life Of Pi
Best Original Song - Adele and Paul Epworth, Skyfall
