“Oppenheimer” dominates the Oscars, “Anatomy of a Fall” wins

The announced explosion has indeed taken place: “Oppenheimer” won the Oscar for best film on Sunday as well as six other statuettes, during a great evening for the French film “Anatomy of a Fall”, rewarded for its screenplay.

Crowned with rave reviews and an impeccable casting, the portrait of father of the atomic bomb portrayed by Christopher Nolan largely dominated the evening.

“I cannot emphasize enough the incredible team we brought together for this film,” responded the filmmaker, taking advantage of his award for best director to thank all the actors.

< p>Cillian Murphy, masterful as Robert Oppenheimer, a nuclear genius steeped in contradictions and doubts, won the Oscar for best actor.

“For the best or worse, we live in the world of Oppenheimer” and the atomic bomb, observed the Irishman. “So I would really like to dedicate this award to peacemakers around the world.”

His on-screen antagonist, Robert Downey Jr, who plays a bureaucrat conservative orchestrating the public humiliation of the scientist, won the prize for best supporting actor.

The film's coronation was completed by other technical statuettes – editing, photography, soundtrack – living up to the reputation of a popular masterpiece that it has built since its theatrical release this summer.

“Anatomy of a Fall” could not play spoilsport to prevent this announced triumph.

This legal thriller about the collapse of a dysfunctional artist couple, where an ambiguous writer played by Sandra Hüller finds herself accused of the murder of her husband, had to be content with only one Oscar out of the five categories in which it was nominated : that of the best original screenplay.

“It will help me get through my mid-life crisis,” joked French filmmaker Justine Triet, very moved, who rubbed shoulders with Nolan and Martin Scorsese for his direction.

“It's a crazy year”, she whispered, alongside her companion Arthur Harari, with whom she co-wrote the script.

His work has indeed established itself as the best representative of French cinema internationally since “Amour”, Oscar for best foreign film in 2013, and “The Artist”, which won five statuettes in 2012.

Palme d'Or at Cannes, “Anatomy of a Fall” was notably rewarded with two Golden Globes and a Bafta – the equivalent of the British Césars.

Emma Stone was the other big winner of the evening. After “La La Land” in 2017, the actress won her second Oscar for best actress for “Poor Creatures”.

This baroque tale by Yorgos Lanthimos won four statuettes in total, saluting her retrofuturist aesthetic.

She plays Bella Baxter, a suicide resuscitated by a crazy scientist, who implants the brain of the baby she was carrying in her.

The opportunity for her to deliver a joyfully regressive performance, as a creature who discovers sex and the thousand other pleasures of life, without any shame or prejudice.

This role was “the gift of a lifetime”, reacted the actress, thanking her director and expressing her admiration for all her competitors.

This category was the tighter: Lily Gladstone, remarkable as a Native American poisoned by her husband in “Killers of the Flower Moon”, by Martin Scorsese, therefore left empty-handed.

Nominated for “Anatomy of a Fall”, Sandra Hüller was able to console herself with the other film in which she was starring: “The Zone of Interest” won the Oscar for best international film for its chronicle of life carefree family of a Nazi family right next to Auschwitz.

Its director Jonathan Glazer launched a message of peace in the Middle East, currently undermined by Israel's war in Gaza.

“Our film shows how dehumanization leads to worse”, recalled the Jewish filmmaker, estimating that the Israelis who died on October 7 in the Hamas attack and the 31,000 Palestinian deaths are “all victims of this dehumanization”.

Several stars, including Billie Eilish, Ramy Youssef and French actor Swann Arlaud, displayed a pin calling for a ceasefire, while several small demonstrations by activists took place in the streets of Los Angeles.

The atrocities of the war in Ukraine were also discussed, with the Oscar for best documentary awarded to “20 Days in Mariupol”, on the siege of the city.

The rest of the evening was punctuated by comedian Jimmy Kimmel's numerous nods to the blockbuster “Barbie”, absolute king of the global box office last year.

< p>Billie Eilish performed the title track of the film “What Was I Made For?”, Oscar winner for best song. And Ryan Gosling set the house on fire in a pink sequined suit, singing his narcissistic ballad “I'm Just Ken.”

Other major awards, Da'Vine Joy Randolph (“Winter Break”) was voted best supporting actress. “The Boy and the Heron”, by Japanese master Hayao Miyazaki, won the Oscar for best animated film.

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