London, Feb 18 (EFE).- “Oppenheimer” was the big winner of the British Academy Film Awards (Baftas) in London on Sunday, taking home seven gongs, followed by “Poor Things,” which left with five.
With 13 nominations, “Oppenheimer” started as a clear favorite in this 77th edition of the awards held at the Royal Festival Hall, where it took the gongs for best film, leading actor, supporting actor, original score, cinematography and editing.
Revered British-American filmmaker Christopher Nolan also won best director, presented by the legendary actor Michael J. Fox.
Nolan highlighted the role of “Oppenheimer” lead actor, Irishman Cillian Murphy, whom he thanked for his support and “taking on something dark.”
Murphy, awarded leading actor, and who recently won the Golden Globe for the same role, beat other heavyweights such as Bradley Cooper (“Maestro”), Colman Domingo (“Rustin”), Paul Giamatti (“The Holdovers”), Barry Keoghan (“Saltburn”) and Teo Yoo (“Past Lives”).
Of his role as the ‘father’ of the atomic bomb, Murphy noted that J. Robert Oppenheimer was “this colossally naughty, complex character and he meant different things to different people. One man’s monster is another man’s hero.”
Best leading actress went to Emma Stone for her performance as Bella Baxter in “Poor Things,” directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, who also won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival.
This adaptation of the novel of the same name by Scottish author Alasdair Gray has divided critics, between those who consider it a feminist masterpiece and those who see it as a misogynistic fantasy.
“I really want to thank my mom because she’s the best person I know in the world and she inspires me every single day and she’s always made me believe this kind of crazy idea that I could do something like this and I’m beyond grateful,” Stone said
The film took home a total of five awards for best leading actress, special visual effects, production design, costume design, and make-up and hair.
In the categories of best supporting performers, the awards went to Robert Downey Jr, who played Lewis Strauss, the head of the US Atomic Energy Commission in “Oppenheimer,” and actress and singer Da’Vine Joy Randolph for “The Holdovers,” the story of a teacher forced to stay at a boarding school during vacation to watch over by a group of students.
A film about the Holocaust, “The Zone of Interest,” by Jonathan Glazer, snatched the award for best film not in the English language, and also won outstanding British film and best sound.
With this story, Glazer immerses the viewer in the family life of Rudolf Höss, a commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp, to narrate the horrors with a striking work composed entirely of fixed shots.
The film beat favorites “Anatomy of a Fall,” by French director Justine Triet, which won best original screenplay, and “Society of the Snow” by Spain’s J.A. Bayonne, as well as “Past Lives” and Ukraine war documentary “20 Days in Mariupol.”
In other categories, winners included Mia McKenna-Bruce for her role in “How to Have Sex” as rising star – the only Bafta chosen by the public; “The Boy and The Heron” as best animated film and “20 Days in Mariupol” as best documentary. EFE
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