London Arts & Letters  

Latest Posts  |  Archive  | 

Some Surprises at the Baftas

by Zoe Strimpel
Tue, 12 Feb 2008 at 12:09 AM

Print

Send

RSS

Share:

Britain's more modest version of the Oscars — the Baftas (British Academy of Film and Television Awards) — took place Sunday night in the gorgeous, stately expanse of the Royal Opera House. Sienna Miller and Tilda Swinton in Dior, Keira Knightley in Valentino, and Rosamund Pike in Roland Mouret were among the beautifully turned out stars who helped set London Fashion Week off to a good start. Still, as the Fashion Editor of The Times of London and overall industry maven Lisa Armstrong noted in the paper this morning, there is something more informal and British about the Baftas. "What gives the Baftas a fillip is the relatively relaxed tone — a mixture of British irreverence combined with a refusal to get too worked up about fashion on a Sunday." Indeed, asked about the black jacket she wore over her gown, Keira Knightley said: "It's February. It's f***ing freezing."

And so to the winners themselves. Daniel Day Lewis, one of the most reclusive film actors alive, won Best Actor for "There Will Be Blood," in which he plays a ruthless oil baron. "I am quite pleased to be part of the circus … because it is a good year," he allowed. Marion Cotillard won Best Actress for playing Edith Piaf in "La Vie en Rose," taking the prize everyone thought Julie Christie would walk away with for her role as a woman battling Alzheimer's in "Away from Her." It was the first time a French actress had won this prize, though Audrey Tautou was nominated for "Amelie" in 2002.

"Atonement" won Best Film, but its stars, James McAvoy, Keira Knightley, and Saoirse Ronan went unrewarded, nor did the film pick up any of the other 10 prizes it was nominated for. Best Director went to Joel and Ethan Coen for "No Country for Old Men," Best Original Screenplay to Diablo Cody for "Juno," and Best British Film for "This is England," a movie about British skinheads in the 1980s.

London Arts & Letters Homepage