Conclave wins best picture at BAFTAs, Emilia Perez shows it’s still a contender

London: Papal thriller Conclave has won best picture and three more gongs at the 78th British Academy Film Awards, where genre-bending musical Emilia Pérez proved it’s still an awards contender, despite a multipronged backlash that looked to have dented its chances.

The Brutalist equalled the awards tally of Conclave, scooping four trophies, including best director for Brady Corbet and best actor for Adrien Brody. Australia’s Guy Pearce was nominated for best supporting actor for his role in the film as a wealthy industrialist, but lost out to Kieran Culkin for A Real Pain. The Brutalist also took awards for best cinematography and musical score.

The Brutalist presents a visionary architect Lazlo Toth (played by Adrien Brody) and his relationship with a wealthy industrialist Harrison Lee Van Buren (Guy Pearce).Credit: AP

Mikey Madison won the best actress prize for Brooklyn tragicomedy Anora.

Conclave, which stars Ralph Fiennes as a cardinal corralling conniving clergy as they elect a new pope, beat The Brutalist, Emilia Pérez, Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown to the top prize. Conclave was also named outstanding British film and took trophies for editing and adapted screenplay.

Best supporting actress went to Zoe Saldaña for Emilia Pérez, which also won the award for best film not in the English language.

Saldaña won for her role as a lawyer who helps the title character transition to a woman and out of a life of crime. She called the film “the creative challenge of a lifetime.”

Conclave, starring Ralph Fiennes, has won best picture.

Best actress nominee Karla Sofía Gascón, who stars as the titular transgender ex-cartel boss in Emilia Pérez, wasn’t at the ceremony. Gascón has withdrawn from promoting the film, which has 13 Academy Award nominations, amid controversy over her social media posts disparaging Muslims, George Floyd and diversity at the Oscars.

Writer and director Jacques Audiard has condemned those comments, but in his acceptance speech thanked Gascón and her co-stars Saldaña and Selena Gomez.

“I am deeply proud of what we have all achieved together,” he said.

The ceremony kicked off with its kilt-wearing host, Scottish actor David Tennant, leading the audience in a rousing singalong of The Proclaimers’ anthem I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles).

A Real Pain, about odd-couple cousins on a trip to explore their roots, won for best original screenplay. The film’s writer and co-star Jesse Eisenberg quipped: “I’d like to share this with my wife, who didn’t come because she didn’t think I’d win”.

Anora, about an exotic dancer entangled with a Russian oligarch’s son, had been a best-picture favourite after winning top prizes last week at the Producers Guild Awards and the Directors Guild Awards.

Brody beat out stiff competition from Fiennes and Timothy Chalamet, who plays the young Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown. The other male actors nominated were Hugh Grant for his creepy role in the horror film Heretic, Colman Domingo in real-life prison drama Sing Sing and Sebastian Stan for his portrayal of a young Donald Trump in The Apprentice.

Animated caper Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl won awards for best animated feature and best family and children’s film.

With Hilary Fox

AP

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