With a pinch of British humor, David Tennant (“Doctor Who”) hosted this year’s British Academy Film Awards: “Come on, Barbie, let’s go party.” The Bafta host apparently wrote down these final words before the awards ceremony – because the “Barbie” filmmakers had no reason to celebrate. Although the stars of last year’s audience favorite and highest-grossing film appeared in large numbers and “Barbie” entered the race with five nominations, Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling and director Greta Gerwig were unable to take home a single Bafta.
The most important British film awards were presented on Sunday in London – and the big winner of the evening was “Oppenheimer”, which was released in cinemas on the same weekend as “Barbie” in July 2023. The biographical historical film about the “father of the atomic bomb”, the physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, was nominated 13 times and received seven Bafta awards. Among other things, he received the most important award for best film. Amid ovations, actor Michael J. Fox (“Back to the Future”), who suffers from Parkinson’s disease, presented the award in the form of a golden mask to producer Emma Thomas and her husband, director Christopher Nolan.
As with “Barbie,” there was no memorable moment of success for Sandra Hülser at the Baftas. The 45-year-old was the first German actress to be nominated, but in the end she came away empty-handed. She was on the list of nominees for best actress (“Anatomy of a Case”) and best supporting actress (“The Zone Of Interest”).
Cillian Murphy honored as best actor
The “Poor Things” team was probably more in the party mood. The fantastic Frankenstein-style film, classified by the BBC as either a “feminist masterpiece or a misogynistic male fantasy”, won five awards – for Emma Stone as best actress as well as in the costume, make-up, production design and visual effects categories.
Irish actor Cillian Murphy won best actor for his role in Oppenheimer. With a smile, he thanked his “Oppen homies” and director Nolan for the “colossally intricate and complex character” of Robert Oppenheimer. The film star from Cork in the southwest of the Emerald Isle (“Dunkirk”, “Peaky Blinders”) is the first Irish-born actor to win a Bafta for best actor.
Da’Vine Joy Randolph (“The Holdovers”) was named best supporting actress. Robert Downey Jr. received the Bafta for Best Supporting Actor for his role as politician Lewis Strauss in “Oppenheimer”, and the award for Best Director also went to “Oppenheimer”: for director Christopher Nolan (“The Dark Knight”, “Inception” , “Dunkirk”) it was the first Bafta of his life. The film also won in the categories for best editing, best cinematography and best music.
Huller film “The Zone of Interest” honored
And there was another first: For the first time in the history of the Baftas, a British film, “The Zone of Interest,” won the award for best non-English language film. German and Polish are spoken in the historical drama, which revolves around the family of Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höß. Sandra Hülser and compatriot Christian Friedel play the Höß couple. Producer James Wilson said the team was “overwhelmed” that the film won a total of three awards. “The Zone of Interest” also won Best British Film and Best Sound.
The Ukrainian film “20 Days in Mariupol” by Mstyslav Chernov was named best documentary. The documentary shows a team of Ukrainian journalists from the AP news agency trying to document the atrocities of the Russian invasion and capture what would later become the most defining images of the war: dying children, mass graves and the bombing of a maternity hospital.
Despite six nominations, there wasn’t a single award for the melancholic fantasy romance “All of Us Strangers” with Irishmen Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal in the lead roles of two gay men. The thriller “Saltburn” – which like “Barbie” received five nominations – also came away empty-handed. Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s 2001 hit “Murder On The Dancefloor” has been experiencing a revival for weeks thanks to its use in the much-discussed nude scene in “Saltburn” – the Brit performed the song live during the awards ceremony. Lead actor Barry Keoghan applauded enthusiastically.
Prince William praised the class and diversity of the competition
The British royal family was represented by Prince William. As president of the Bafta Arts Foundation, he sat in the front row of the 2,400-seat Royal Festival Hall on Sunday, where he made his first public appearance since his wife Kate’s abdominal operation. The princess could not be there because she is still recovering from the operation. William told the PA press agency at the celebrations that he “always has a list of films” he wants to watch after the Baftas. He praised the class and diversity of the competition in each category.
There is only a short time for the actors and filmmakers to breathe deeply, because the Academy Awards (“Oscars”) are coming up in Los Angeles in less than three weeks. What is already certain is that neither the Oscar for best director nor the one for best actress can go to “Barbie” – neither Greta Gerwig nor Margot Robbie are nominated.
